Worth Dying For
by Shadow Rebirth
Summary: My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am a shinobi by profession, an advisor by chance, and a warmonger according to my enemies. My story started with a death god, ended with an empire, and struck up a revolution somewhere along the way. [AU background and mechanics]
1. Prologue: Memento Mori

Posted: June 22, 2012  
Last Updated: Feb 9, 2013  
Chapter WC: 545  
Story WC: 545

* * *

Worth Dying For

Prologue  
_Memento Mori_

* * *

If there was one thing I have learned in my life, it is that the fear of death is what drives men.

I have seen good men rise and fall. I have seen new shinobi legends made and old ones crumble into dust. I have heard grand speeches about duty and honor and even given one or two myself. I know the doctrines, the oaths, the philosophies. I know all about duty and honor and sacrifice.

But I also know that it is a rare man who will choose death over life, sacrifice over loss—not when they are stared in the face and given the choice. It is only a great man who truly thinks not of himself, who willingly sacrifices himself for those he protects.

I am not a great man, despite what some may say. I have never stared death in the face, never sacrificed anything. I have never even been given the choice of sacrificing myself. I cannot say what I would do if I was. I cannot say that I would willingly give up my life for someone else.

I am not a great man.

But what I choose to do with the life I do have… That is all I have, and all I can give. For better or worse, I have devoted my life to fighting for what I believe in. I have maimed and killed in the name of my beliefs, and though this knowledge weighs on my shoulders I cannot bring myself to regret it. I cannot help but feel that if I regret even a moment of my life, it will invalidate everything—everything I've done, all the lives that have been lost, everyone I've ever hurt or helped.

I wonder if all mortal men get this philosophical before the end. In my experience most people tend to grow either frantic or enraged in the face of death. But I am not facing death, for I cannot die. Rather, I am facing an end. An end of purpose, an end of life—but not truly death.

Still, perhaps I should be more panicked. I wonder if they drugged my food. Had to have been a hell of a drug to have any lasting effect on me.

I rest my head back against the cold stone behind me. The chakra repressing manacles that tie me to the rock wall are digging tightly into my wrists, rubbing the skin there raw. I absently wonder if I can at least ask them to loosen the chains.

A shadow shifts in the darkness of the cavern. I squint but can't make out anything other than a vaguely human shape. How melodramatic. I suppose I should be thankful I am not surrounded by candles and chanting priests or something else out of a storybook.

I watch impassively as the shadow grows closer. A part of me wishes that I had at least been given the chance to sacrifice myself, instead of being forced to face the situation I am in. I want to know how I would react if given that choice, to see if I really could be a great man. I guess now I'll never know.

My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and today is the day I die.

o-O-o

A/N: First and foremost, be aware this is going to be an action/adventure and slightly sci-fi story. I want to do something with Naruto that hasn't been done before, something other than the usual struggles with Akatsuki and Madara. This story will span the entire shinobi continent and delve centuries into the past. It's going to involve shinobi and samurai and daimyo and biju, and I'm having a hell of a time writing it =]

I started working on this story nearly a year ago and got about 35k into it before I realized I didn't like how Naruto was turning out. So I played around with his character and dialogue for a bit and ultimately wound up completely changing his voice—which then meant that I went back and completely rewrote the story. Same basic events, but still a completely different story. The first version will never see the light of day xD As of right now I have about 70k of WDF written—with about half of that having been edited by a beta reader—which means that it's about 1/3 to 1/2 done. Initially I didn't plan to release this story until it was compete or nearly complete, but with how busy I am with real life right now I don't know how long that's going to take. So instead I'm posting it now for you to (hopefully) enjoy.

Happy reading!

-S.R.

_Memento mori_ - "Remember your mortality"


	2. Chapter 1: Immortal

Posted: April 28, 2012  
Last Updated: Feb 9, 2013  
Chapter WC: 4,884  
Story WC: 5,429

Warning: language, gore.

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 1  
_Immortal_

* * *

_I am Uzumaki Naruto, an eleven year old citizen of Hidden Leaf Village and an aspiring shinobi. I have blond hair and blue eyes. If this combination reminds you of an angel and __suddenly you're picturing me with a shiny halo and giant fluffy wings, do me a favor and hit yourself over the head to get rid of that god-awful and truly terrifying picture. I am not an angel._

_I am a _jinchuuriki_._

_Not sure what that is? __Be glad. And if you're under the age of fifteen then don't feel too stupid, because it's a public S-rank secret. If you're over fifteen, go ahead and feel stupid._

_That's not why I am not an angel though. Well it is, in a roundabout way. You see, I'm not exactly normal. Not in the "Oh, I'm such a unique person!" bullshit sort of way, but in the actual "Uh, I think there's something wrong with you…" sort of way._

_I died when I was five years old._

_It's a long, boring story involving child-me being a curious moron, trying to sneak into a shinobi's house while they were on a long-term mission, accidentally setting off a trap, and getting locked in a cellar for two weeks without any food or water. It wasn't exactly what I'd call a fun time; I still hate being in enclosed spaces to this day, but that's another story entirely._

_So yeah, I died or something. And before you ask, yes, starving to death is painful as hell and continuing to stay alive while still starving is even more so. I only got out when the shinobi returned and reset their traps. As soon as the path was clear I bolted out of there faster than if I'd heard there was a half off sale at the weapon store a block from my apartment. They have some great shuriken prices, that's for sure._

_But I digress. I died again when I was eight. There's not really a story there, just an incident with a sharpened kunai and pants that were a tad too long. I was going through my gawky stage then and couldn't keep my balance to save my life—literally, as it were._

_Basically, I can't die. Or get injured for that matter; I heal pretty much instantly, regardless of the severity of the injury. Regeneration is the proper term, according to the pocket dictionary I nicked off my first academy teacher. Chuunin or not, the man was as blind as a bat. I also got a decent set of kunai, a house key, a DVD anime set, and enough money for a month of food off him before he started getting all twitchy paranoid and stabbing anything that moved near him. He was sacked a week later for stabbing one of my classmates clean through his hand when the boy came up to hand in his homework._

_Still digressing, it seems. The point, before I completely forget what I'm talking about, is that I quickly realized that "life" is a subjective term—and one that hasn't applied to me since the day I was born. Why? Because when the Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi in me, he didn't account for the Shinigami. He, just like all humans, didn't understand that reality is a mere suggestion to a being such as the death god. And when he made me a _jinchuuriki_ through the death god, the Kyuubi was not merely sealed into me: I am no longer a human. I am merely a prison._

_And prisons don't need to be alive to hold their prisoners._

_To be frank, I don't understand it all myself. I know it's because of the death god and that I am sustained solely off the Kyuubi's chakra, which is nearly infinite. I am a sort of parasitic prison, I suppose; so long as the Kyuubi is alive, I will be "alive" as well to contain it. But if anything ever happens to the Kyuubi then there will no longer be a purpose for me. I will have no reason to exist. I suppose I'll die then. Morbid, no? Not quite as morbid as watching your own guts spill out of your stomach and then abruptly suck themselves back in. Well, no, that's more disturbing than morbid. I have a strong stomach—figuratively, though I'll happily attest that I have abs of steel if asked to—after so many years of not-living._

_But I have to admit that it's rather liberating. Not being able to die, that is. I can do anything I want, take any daring leap, and ultimately walk away without a scratch. It's made me rather reckless and audacious. Not that I'm careless though—never that. I may not be able to die, but I can certainly be captured and I will _never_ allow myself to get trapped again, be it due to my own stupidity or another human being._

_So no, I'm not an angel. I'm not even a demon, or a shinobi yet for that matter. But I am a quasi-immortal with a mountain of chakra at my beck and call, and neither heaven nor hell can get in my way._

o-O-o

-2:13 PM, September 10th, 311 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Central Market-

I howled with laughter and nearly tripped over my own feet as I sped through the central marketplace with two Chuunin hot on my heels.

"Uzumaki!" they roared, followed by a string of curses that Umino-sensei would have kicked my ass for repeating out loud.

I dodged around a startled old woman and her shopping, taking a moment to twist around and blow a raspberry at the Chuunin before bursting out laughing again at their enraged faces that were liberally splattered with purple paint and feathers. I could practically see the spittle flying from their mouths as they raved some more. Of course, I then tripped over a large basket of apples, sending them and me sprawling across the street.

Stifling my laughter, I flipped back up onto my feet and scrambled up the nearest drainpipe like the squirrel my teachers often compared me to. It wasn't my fault I had a lot of experience climbing, per se; it's just the best way to get out of my apartment when that old pervert who lives above my apartment brings someone else over. I can never get any sleep those nights and I don't even _want_ to know what he's doing to make them scream that loud.

The Chuunin ran up the wall after me and I took a brief moment to bemoan my still-in-the-Academy status. I wanted to learn how to defy gravity like that, if only so that I could get my revenge on it for knocking me over so many times. More than once one of my flawless, perfectly planned pranks turned into a clusterfuck because the oh-so-mighty gravity decided that I wasn't balanced quite right in my hiding place. Well not this time! With one last burst of speed I dove through a narrow window that was just big enough for me, a scrawny—but still manly and strong—kid to squeeze through, but too small for the Chuunin.

I knew the Chuunin would try to tear the building apart looking for me, and then get smacked around by the tiny old woman—who was actually a retired ANBU—who lived here and ran the store down below. I knew this because I'd tried to get a kunai pouch from her once and almost got my hand chopped off for the trouble. She might have called it "stealing," but her prices were too ridiculous for anyone under Chuunin to even think about buying, let alone an orphaned Academy student like me. And she didn't even believe me when I told her I was only going to borrow it for a few weeks! As retaliation for her exorbitant, over-priced, stuck up, "No, you may _not_ have the shuriken either!" merchandise, I happily used her bedroom window to escape from the Chuunin, then snuck out the emergency escape hatch she'd built into the fireplace while they were looking for me.

By the time they realized I was gone, I was already halfway across the village, snickering to myself as I wove through the crowds. I should probably lay low for a while, at least until those Chuunin removed the sticks that have been liberally shoved up their asses, making them incapable of understanding that paint _does_ wash out and that getting pissed off will kill them faster than taking the joke and laughing about it. Honestly, I just prank people to help relieve their stress but _they_ never seem to get that.

I should probably avoid my apartment until things have calmed down too. For no apparent reason _everyone _shinobi Chuunin and above seemed to know where I lived. Feh, maybe I should ask the Hokage for a new place, just to throw them off. Not that I was too worried about anyone getting into my apartment; it was lethally booby trapped. I'd even killed myself a few times getting inside. I should probably remedy that—shuriken _hurt_, whether they just cut off a finger or slice through your jugular.

Skirting along the outskirts of the business district, I headed toward where the shinobi training grounds were grouped together. The majority of them were fenced off and required a shinobi ID to access, but the lower numbered training grounds mostly consisted of open wooded clearings. It was among these that I had found myself able to just get away from the village when I needed to. Civilians didn't come near the training grounds and Chuunin usually used the more dangerous ones. Hell, even animals didn't go there because the ground was too saturated with chakra. Well, that and animals tended to avoid me anyway. I was like a walking anti-dog catcher, aka the Inuzuka's worst nightmare. I could set off a mini dog-apocalypse just by walking by their kennels.

I stopped before a tall ash tree and quickly scrambled up into its branches. Sitting in the split in the trunk about ten feet off the ground, I began to hum as I pulled out and thumbed through the stack of small, square papers that I'd lifted from an art store while using my latest prank as a distraction. I hadn't gotten quite as many as I'd wanted, but they'd do for the time being and there was no way in hell I'd actually dip into my meager savings to buy something like this.

Leaning back against the tree, I took out a small stone bowl and a kunai. I pressed my kunai into the skin of my arm and then sliced down deep enough that I nearly hit bone. It hurt like a bitch, but I had to cut that deep to get enough blood to drain into the bowl before the wound sealed up a few seconds later. I swished the bowl around, continuing to hum thoughtfully as I made sure that I had enough blood.

Ink was, technically, a much better medium to use for creating seals, but it was also a whole lot more expensive. And while ink was a better chakra conductor in general, using my blood made sure that no one but me could use the seals I made, which I found to be an added bonus.

I took the brush that was hanging from a cord on my shoulder. I kept it there partially for easy access, but mainly just because I used to keep it with my kunai and stabbed myself one too many times while digging around in my pockets trying to find it. Everyone just seemed to think that the brush was decorative, which I found hilarious; I mean really, why would I carry around a perfectly good brush if I didn't intend to use it? At the very least if I ran out of kunai I could stab an opponent in the eye with the handle.

Shaking off my thoughts, I dipped the brush in the bowl. I held it above the bowl until all the excess blood had drained off, and then swiftly began to draw it across one of the paper tags with short, quick motions. I bit my tongue lightly as I worked, being careful to keep my strokes as small as possible. Seals were annoying to make, to be frank. They took too much patience and time for an effect that would only take a few seconds. I guessed that seals that were more complex than the explosion tags I was making would probably be worth it, but I would have to learn that kind of a skill from a seal master—not just copying seals like I'd learned to do—and there were only a handful of seal masters in the world.

The point is that I can't afford to buy explosion tags, so I make my own. I'd do the same with kunai and shuriken if I could, but I know nothing of blacksmiths other than that their craft mostly uses forges or fire jutsu, both which I know nothing about. Well, I actually can't use any jutsu at all, but that's another story. In any case, copying seals was pretty easy so long as you're careful to make the exact strokes—

And not jerk your hand a little too much and connect two lines that really aren't supposed to be connected like I just did. Making mistakes with seals is Very Bad.

"Ah sh—"

The mostly completed tag exploded in my face. A shockwave of compressed air and chakra blasted outward and hit me and the tree I was in at point blank range. I heard a loud crack and slammed into something and the world around me went black. I blinked slowly as the world began to refocus, feeling numb. My first thought was that blood-based seals were much more volatile than ink-based ones. My second was that there was a man standing over me, panicking.

"Huh, that's new," I mused aloud. I didn't think I'd ever seen someone look worried for my sake before. Or at least I thought he was worried; he was wearing a mask that covered most of his face so I couldn't exactly read his expression. Maybe he was actually laughing at me and I just couldn't tell over the ringing in my ears.

"Don't move," the man said tersely. His hands were on my chest and blood was leaking from between his fingers.

I blinked again to clear my eye sight and found that I was lying on the ground a few feet from the tree I'd been in—or rather what had once been a tree. It had pretty much been torn apart by the explosion and now resembled a demented artist's impression of a tree. I laughed weakly when I realized that insinuated that I was a demented artist. Not too far from the truth, I guess.

Looking down, I saw that there was a large piece of wood about the width of my arm sticking up out of my midsection just below my ribcage. I couldn't feel anything below that point, so I assumed it had severed my spine. The upper half of my body was pretty much on fire. I'd give it 6 on my personal Naruto Pain Scale. It was just above the "torn stomach episode" and a little below the "near decapitation incident." Hmm, perhaps I am a little too reckless. I've "died" more times than is probably good for my sanity.

I groaned aloud, feeling my skin and muscles tighten around the wood as my body tried to heal around it. I really needed to pull it out or my body would start to incorporate the wood as it healed.

This was, however, the first time I'd ever gotten injured in front of a witness. There was no way I could hide my regeneration now, not with what was clearly a fatal would. Although, the man standing over me did have just one eye, so maybe I could pass it off as him being blind? The forehead protector covering his other eye told me otherwise, because no one would believe me over a shinobi. Hmm, well, unless I claimed sexual harassment or something, but that's never worked before.

The man had gray hair, so maybe he was old, I noted as my vision began to swim from the rapid blood loss. That would probably make him a "respectable" shinobi. Which meant…something. My thoughts were slipping through my fingers and flying around in my head too fast for me to catch.

"Just pull it out," I groaned. I wasn't coughing up blood so the wood had missed my lungs, which was a good sign at least. Not being able to breathe gets annoying pretty quickly, plus it makes me dizzy.

Oh right, respectable. If this shinobi was respectable then everyone would believe him if he leaked info about my healing ability. I could always start a smear campaign against him, like I did with that nasty cabbage salesman with the crooked teeth. That might take a bit too long though…

"You'll bleed to death," the man said. "It needs to stay in to staunch the bleeding until I can get a medic-nin out here."

He was keeping remarkably calm for someone watching a kid die before him. Maybe he was one of those shinobi who hate me. No, he would have just walked away and let me die if that was true. Maybe he was actually a cannibal and was sizing me up as his next meal? Or at least he'd been on enough assassination missions to be comfortable around large amounts of blood. None of those options were particularly pleasant.

Repressing a sigh as my vision began to blacken, I realized I didn't have much of a choice if I wanted to keep my regeneration as much of a secret as possible. I'd deal with the repercussions later, before I blacked out and woke up in the hospital with dozens of stunned medic-nin around me.

"I…heal…" I said jerkily as it became harder to force my lips to move and my voice to come out. "Move…the damn…branch."

My eyes were too blurry now to see the shinobi's reaction. But a moment later his hands closed around the wood and pulled it out with a sharp tug. I gasped as a spike of white hot pain shot through me, momentarily blackening my vision again and making me tremble. But like all pain it passed as quickly as it had come and I could already feel my muscles knitting back together, erasing any proof that the fatal injury had been there.

I lay panting on the ground for a long minute before I even attempted to move. Then I rolled over onto my hands and knees, pushed myself up, and staggered to my feet. For a moment I considered running, but that would hardly solve my problem and I had little doubt that this shinobi could catch me. I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck, then turned to face the pounding doom music that would be blaring from the older shinobi if he was a speaker. But as he was a human, not a speaker, he was merely standing there with his hands held loosely at his side and his single visible eye narrowed at me. I grimaced when I saw that my blood was smeared over his Jounin vest.

"You're alive," he said pointedly.

I raised an eyebrow. "No, I'm a fucking ghost and you're really just hallucinating this whole thing." He stared at me silently. I sighed; why was it that older shinobi never had a sense of humor? And they wondered why I played pranks on them—it was to try to actually get _some_ kind of reaction from them. Umino-sensei, for example, sometimes turned a lovely shade of purple.

Alas, I was firmly stuck between a rock and hard place that was either another rock or the village wall, which I still said was ridiculously tall. I got that it was supposed to protect the village and all, but the sheer idea of the cost it must have taken to build made me cringe. Speaking of which…

I pivoted on my heel and looked back at the impressionist-style tree. From the looks of it all the paper I'd just gotten had been burnt up in the blast. Pity. I began to pick up the rest of my equipment that had been scattered and clicked my tongue against my teeth when I saw the stone bowl that I had been using for years lying in the grass nearby. It had been split into three pieces. Running my finger down one of the surprisingly smooth edges, I wondered whether it would be cheaper to fix it or just get a new one.

The man coughed. I turned back to him with the bowl pieces still in my hand and raised my eyebrow again. He sent a meaningful look at my stomach and said, "How, exactly, are you still standing?"

"Marionette strings," I replied instantly. He gave me that stare again. "Fine, fine. I heal. As in, from anything from a scratch to being stabbed through the heart by my goddamned fairy godmother. And no, I'm not a zombie. I think. I guess technically I could be classified as one. 'Zombie Naruto.' It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

The man tilted his head to the side and considered me suspiciously. It was pretty obvious that he was thinking something related to the Kyuubi that was stuck inside me.

"Let me guess: I need to see the Hokage," I said before he could speak up.

Abruptly, he leaned back and smiled at me through his mask, completely changing his body language. "Exactly!" he said cheerfully before I had the chance to do much more than blink at this sudden shift in personality. Great dead Hokage, was I stuck with a schizophrenic? No wait, that's the one who sees things that aren't there, not has multiple personalities. Hmm, perhaps I could convince him that he was a schizophrenic.

I tensed as the man approached me, ready to flee. He was still smiling though—not that smiling was a sign of friendliness. Clowns also smile and everyone is well aware that they're just waiting to jump you and strangle you once your back is turned. "Should we go then?" I prompted.

The man nodded and grasped my shoulder. Alarmed, I tried to jerk away but his grip was like steel. All of a sudden I felt a pulse of chakra and flinched away—and then abruptly the world shifted around in a dizzying display of colors and shapes before reforming to show a large office around us. A few feet away in front of a large window was a desk, and behind it sat the Third Hokage.

It didn't take a genius to guess that the man had transported us here using the _shunshin_ jutsu. I'd seen shinobi use it before and been struck by its usefulness, but now more than ever I really wished it was something I could use. The very thought of the pranks I could get up to with a quick escape at my fingertips sent a delightful shiver down my spine.

"Might I ask what you're doing, Hatake?" the Hokage asked the tall man beside me. I frowned up at him, suddenly realizing that I barely even came up to his waist. Damn tall adults.

"Here to report an incident, Hokage-sama."

I glanced back at the Hokage and shifted uncomfortably. The sun shining in from the windows behind him made it difficult to see his expression, an effect that was probably 100% intended.

The tall shinobi opened his mouth to explain, but I abruptly cut him off with a curt, "I regenerate."

They both stared at me, so I shrugged. I wasn't going to get out of this situation—not without fighting against the Hokage which pretty much equaled instant capture and that was _not_ a situation I was willing to go through—so it was better to make sure that there was no confusion that could lead to an ugly misunderstanding.

"I can't die, sir," I continued blithely, staring straight ahead. "No matter what happens to me I regenerate almost instantly. I've survived a number of accidents that should have killed me. From what little I've been able to understand, it's because of the seal containing the Kyuubi."

The Hokage didn't narrow his eyes or even blink at my statement, nor my admittance that I knew about the Kyuubi, but there was a clear change in the atmosphere of the office at my words. "Show me," he said.

Shrugging, I pulled out a kunai and drew a shallow slice across my palm. I held my hand up so that he could watch as the cut quickly faded away before any blood could drip out. The Third stared at me for a long minute. His wrinkled old thumb ran up and down the length of his pipe, though he didn't move it anywhere near his lips. His gaze was as unreadable as Hatake was silent beside me.

"This bears some thought," he said at last. "Why did you not come forward with this earlier?"

I blinked owlishly at him. "And say what, exactly?" I asked with a snort. "That I know I'm the host for a demon and that it's made me semi-immortal?"

"How exactly did you learn about the Kyuubi?"

"You're kidding, right? It hardly takes a genius to notice. I was born on the same day as the Kyuubi 'died', I have fucki— Er, I have whisker marks on my cheeks, and I have a seal on my stomach that only shows up when I channel chakra or get injured. Either my parents were into body mutilation or I'm a _jinchuuriki_."

The Hokage nodded absently. "You are nearly a Genin, correct?"

"Yes, sir. I have half a year left at the Academy."

"Hmm..."

That was not a good "hmm." It wasn't an "I'm going to lock you up" hmm or a "You're a demon" hmm, thankfully, but still not good.

"Sir?" I enquired when he continued to stay silent for well over five minutes. He blinked, as though he had forgotten I was there. Then he sighed heavily.

"I'm pulling you out of the Academy—"

I physically reeled back as a jolt of shock ran through me. Being a shinobi was the only thing I'd ever really wanted for myself. It was everything I'd been working toward for as long as I could remember. "What?! That's not fair!" I protested vehemently as I balled my hands into fists.

"—and graduating you early."

All I could think to say was, "Oh…" The tight ball of fury that had been building in my chest dissipated—and was quickly replaced with a burning curiosity.

"Are you sure that's wise, Hokage-sama?" the tall shinobi next to me asked. "We have the Academy for a reason. He's not ready for active shinobi duty yet."

I wanted to protest that I was more than ready, but it would be more of a lie than when I tried to claim that I was a reincarnation of the Shodaime Hokage. I was fast and I was strong, but I still couldn't perform even the simplest jutsu. I'd failed the last two tests for that reason, which frustrated me to no end. I knew the theory like the back of my hand, but manipulating my chakra was like pulling teeth from an angry Hyuuga.

"These are special circumstances," the Hokage said. He took a puff from his pipe and leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful. "It would be preferable to keep your...abilities under wraps, Naruto-kun. There are some who would not take well to it."

"You mean there are some who would take it as a sign that the Kyuubi has taken over," I said bluntly.

He smiled. "Yes, among other things. You have done well so far at preventing anyone from catching on, so I will not doubt that you will continue to do so. If anyone starts to question you, however, please report directly to my office. That's an order—it will go above the order of any of your superiors. You may cite it as an A-rank secret, if you must."

That seemed like a rather drastic measure to me for simply being able to regenerate. I doubted I was the first person with such ability and I couldn't exactly picture a mob armed with torches and pitchforks coming after me for it. This was a shinobi village; our civilians saw stranger things on an average Tuesday, like last year when a pig spontaneously combusted near the Hokage Tower. Or at least that was the story—it reeked of shinobi business to me. Regardless, the Third probably had his reasons, and I couldn't exactly question the _Hokage_ without looking like a five year old throwing a temper tantrum.

I bowed to him and said, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"You are dismissed, Naruto-kun," he said. "We'll handle your registration tomorrow."

o-O-o

_jinchuuriki_ – demon container; lit. "human sacrifice"_  
shunshin_ – Body Flicker technique

A/N: A reviewer mentioned that the prologue seemed darker than the rest of the story. I want to take a moment to say: Yes. That's completely true. There is a pretty big time difference between then and now. In the prologue Naruto is older, more mature, and more serious so I intentionally changed the tone to reflect that. As this story proceeds it will slowly grow a bit darker (though I don't think I could ever fully label it as "dark"). However, Naruto's crassness and use of foul language will continue throughout the story because it is an integral part of his character, so if you're opposed to that then this probably isn't the story for you. That having been said, this story will (probably) never cross the line between the T and M rating.

Many thanks to Null for agreeing to edit this story.

Happy reading!

-SR

_People are, if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about being thought unjust._  
-E. B. White


	3. Chapter 2: Shinobi

Posted: May 5, 2012  
Last Updated: Feb 9, 2013  
Chapter WC: 4,212  
Story WC: 9,641

Warning: language

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 2  
_Shinobi_

* * *

-7:00 AM, September 11th, 311 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village's Eastern Forest-

When I woke up the morning after my informal ascent to shinobi-hood, I nearly went to the Academy anyway. It took some effort to remember that I no longer had to go, and that realization made me feel rather odd. It wasn't that I would miss the Academy, but it had been a part of my life for so long. Kind of like a tumor. Only a good thing, so maybe like a tumor that you have to bear for five years and then when it went away it gave you magical powers—or shinobi powers, in this case.

I'd slept in the hills behind the Academy that night, so I was already in view of the building by the time I realized that I was supposed to be heading in the opposite direction. It was far from the first time I'd slept outside and I would probably do so for the next couple of days too, until I was sure those Chuunin were no longer actively trying to find me. I liked sleeping outside anyway.

As I crouched in a tree just in view of the Academy and considered whether it was worth risking another trip through the market district to get to the Tower on time, I saw a few students heading into the building. Some of them looked a bit older than me. They'd have to stay in class for the next six months while I was already a shinobi. Half of me wanted to swell with pride, shove my finger under their noses, and tell them that I was Uzumaki fucking Naruto and that every single time they'd told me I wasn't fit to be a shinobi was wrong and there was _nothing_ that anyone could do to stop me. The other half of me, a very small part that I rejected faster than a prostitute with syphilis, felt like I'd cheated to get where I was—but if that was true then my entire existence, Kyuubi and all, was a cheat. It was a part of me that I readily ignored. And besides, shinobi cheat.

Ultimately, I decided to take the risk and ran to the Hokage Tower in record time. I hid whenever I saw another shinobi nearby, thankful not for the first time that I'd long since catalogued all the easy-to-hide-in locations in the Hidden Leaf Village. When I reached the tower I quickly raced up the stairs to the third floor while jealously wishing again that I could walk up walls like most shinobi. It would make the trip quicker, and my life a hell of a lot easier.

The third floor of the Hokage Tower was dedicated to record keeping. It was rumored to contain entire vaults full of files and old scrolls. Additionally, it was where the registration center was located, one room beyond the stair landing. Unfortunately for me, there was also a disgruntled shinobi guard stationed on the stair landing.

"Whoa, kid," the man said when I started to walk past him. His hand shot out to block the doorway. "This is a restricted floor. Shinobi access only."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm heading to registration, genius. Now if you wouldn't mind—"

The man snorted. "Let me give you a tip, kid. If you want to be a shinobi, you need to learn to tell lies that are actually believable. The next Genin graduation exam isn't for another six months."

"As utterly _brilliant_ of a concept as that sounds—because I'm _obviously_ new to telling lies—I'm a unique case and I have an appointment with the Hokage to get to," I said. I made a shooing motion with my hand. "So, move."

His eyes narrowed at me and he drew himself up to his full height. He opened his mouth to angrily reply with what would have undoubtedly been a well thought out, witty retort when the gray haired shinobi who'd found me yesterday suddenly appeared and clapped me on the shoulder.

"There you are Naruto-kun, I was wondering where you were," he said casually. Whatever the other shinobi had been about to say died on his lips as he paled faster than a man I once saw accidentally walk into the women's side of the public baths.

The unreasonably tall shinobi steered me past the suddenly speechless man and toward the registration center. I couldn't resist the urge to turn my head back and stick my tongue out at the man. He began to splutter as the color rushed back into his cheeks and I snickered in response. My guide completely ignored the exchange.

The registration itself didn't take more than ten minutes and comprised of boring paperwork that I would have gladly set on fire and launched at my Academy instructors instead of filling out. When that was done I had my picture taken and was issued a shiny shinobi ID card with the number 012572 at the bottom. I grinned gleefully as I stared down at the proof that I'd taken such a large step forward.

At last I turned to the gray haired shinobi who'd been shadowing me like a towering stalker the entire time and asked, "So did the Hokage send you to watch over me or something?"

"Or something," the man agreed with a closed eye smile. "I will be your sensei from today onward."

"Eh? What about my Genin team?"

"You're an odd one out, so you won't have one. It'll be just you and me!" he said.

I crossed my arms before me and stuck my chin out stubbornly. "You haven't even told me your name yet or who you are. And for that matter, how did you come across me yesterday?"

The man shrugged and began to lead me out of the tower. I hesitated for a moment before following. "Hatake Kakashi, Jounin of Hidden Leaf Village," he said. "As for your last question, that's a secret!"

"Please don't tell me you're going for the mysterious old man effect," I scoffed. I couldn't quite believe that he'd just come across me by coincidence.

Hatake hummed thoughtfully. "Well I may be the master of all things mysterious, but I'm not old."

"You've got gray hair," I pointed out. "Underneath that mask you must be a wrinkly old man."

"So you think," Hatake replied with a cheery tone.

Huh, that was the first time I'd gotten that reaction; generally people just got mad at me. "You're an old man," I declared again while watching him from the corner of my eye. "And I bet you've got some kind of horrible lip deformity and that's why you wear that mask. It's slowly spreading across your face and has even made it up to your left eye. You try to pretend it's all right, but really you cry yourself to sleep at night while wishing for a princess to come along and accept you for who you really are, deformity and all."

Hatake shot me and odd look. "It looks like I really will need to keep you in line," he said, amusement clear in his voice.

We'd finally reached the street and still Hatake was walking without telling me where we were headed. "To stop me from running around, transforming into a demon, and destroying half the known world?" I asked while absently wondering if I could just slip away. There were a couple of pranks I wanted to get done by the end of the week.

"If you get in trouble, it will fall on my head now."

I grinned brightly at that. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

"Which means no more pranks," Hatake continued on blithely as though I hadn't spoken. "Every time you get in trouble I'll tack on a night training session—which means no sleep, no food." He sounded far too happy with the idea of such training.

I scoffed under my breath and intertwined my fingers behind my head, relaxing as I walked. Internally, I was more pleased than _I_ probably should have been. I had a teacher, someone who was actually willing to train me, for the first time in my life. I wasn't like the other kids in my class, who had their parents to teach them, and I'd always been more of a hands-on learner rather than being book smart, so the Academy hadn't been an ideal learning environment for me. All my life I'd been fighting to prove to everyone around me that I had what it took to be a shinobi—and now I was one.

Internally, I was happier than a yakuza boss on crack.

As the buildings began to thin out around us, Hatake was still walking at a slow, lazy pace. "Can't you just _shunshin_ us there?" I grumbled. "Or at least, you know, _run_?"

"Patience is a virtue," Hatake retorted.

"Oh of course, I forgot that being a shinobi is such a _virtuous_ profession. Let me go get my poetry books and dancing fans so that I'll be all set."

Hatake grinned beneath his mask. "Don't forget your kimono _Miss_ Naruto. I'm sure all the boys will be complimenting how it goes with your eyes by the end of the day."

"And I'm sure all the old grannies are converging around your house, just waiting to get their hands on you. You must be quite popular, being the 'elder master of mysteries'," I shot back. Hatake looked distinctly green at the thought.

We entered a simple forested training ground not too far from where we had first met yesterday. Flipping around his attitude again, Hatake beamed down at me and I suddenly had a very bad feeling, akin to the last time I'd tried to paint the side of the Hyuuga complex only to wind up twitching on the ground and thrown out with the trash.

"First, let's start off with a simple test of ability," my new sensei said.

Then he was gone and I was left gaping at the grass—and then a high kick slammed into the side of my head and I found myself flying through the air. I collided hard with the ground and rolled into a crouch, hissing in pain from where some skin on my arm had been scraped off. Damn, the man hit _hard._

I barely had the time to blink before Hatake was in front of me again and then I was ducking and dodging and barely managing to avoid getting hit as he drove me backward. With a gasp I rolled under another punch and tried to strike back, but he was gone and then behind me and I had to lunge forward or get my skull cracked open by his fist.

Desperate for even just a moment to gather my wits, I quickly took out an explosion tag and threw it between us. Hatake replaced himself with a log and I turned tail and preformed a 'tactical retreat,' otherwise known as running like hell for tree cover. I slid behind a couple of bushes, panting for breath as the few injuries I'd managed to garner—in just a few seconds of fighting!—healed and disappeared without a trace.

Hatake was nowhere to be seen. That scared the crap out of me more than when he was in my face. I tensed up and scanned the trees, looking for any sign of movement. Every leaf blowing in the wind made my gaze snap toward it, every animal scampering through the underbrush—

I froze. There were no animals in the training grounds. The earth was too soaked with chakra, so all but shinobi animals and a few birds steered clear of the area.

I dove from the cover of the bushes just as a squirrel jumped from the tree above me and as I twisted in the air so that my gaze could follow it, my perception shifted and suddenly it was Kakashi barreling toward me. It wasn't that he transformed from a squirrel into human form, but rather like I'd been looking at that optical illusion they showed us in the Academy, where you were looking at the picture of a young woman and suddenly realized her chin was a nose and her necklace was a mouth, and then you realized you were looking at the picture of an old woman in the same picture and— It was a _henge_, I realized abruptly as my mind refocused on the problem at hand. It was a Genjutsu I'd seen a thousand times before, but never seen used in battle. Suddenly it seemed a whole lot more useful.

And then I was twisting around to land on my hands and preforming a handspring to avoid Hatake's sweeping kick. I flipped back and blocked his next punch, which sent a shock running up my arm and through my shoulder. I gritted my teeth and grabbed Hatake's arm, intending to pull him into my arm span—it seriously wasn't fair that he had such a longer reach than me—but instead he tossed me over his shoulder, slamming me into the ground and then followed up by smashing his foot into my chest. I gasped in shock as several of my ribs audibly cracked and white spots danced before my eyes as a wave of sharp, hot pain washed over me.

"Thanks to your healing, I don't have to hold back with you," Hatake said cheerfully while standing over me. "The training may be harsher, but you'll learn quicker than most people."

I spluttered out a curse directed at his mother as I lay on the ground, gasping for breath. I could feel my ribs healing already, but it hurt like hell. But damn—I knew Hatake was good, but the man's a fucking _monster _when he wants to be. And he wasn't even going full out, thank god. I can't begin to imagine how quickly I would have gotten killed if he'd been serious or even just used anything above Academy level jutsu.

"Now that's not very nice," Hatake chided. I tensed up for a second when he reached into one of his pouches, but his hand came out with nothing more than a slim orange book. He promptly buried his nose in it and began to giggle quietly. I eyed him warily, but he didn't seem inclined to continue to attack me.

"So are you going to actually teach me anything now?" I asked as I slowly sat up. I could already feel the aches fading and my energy returning. "Or just beat me into the ground some more?"

Hatake smiled over the top of the book. "I won't teach you anything until you've mastered your Academy skills," he said. "And I daresay that your Ninjutsu is terrible at best. You didn't even try to use any."

Grumbling, I jumped to my feet and picked up the tattered, grass stained remains of my jacket. I eyed the now unrecognizably orange material for a moment before deeming it irreparable—and Hatake hadn't even used any weapons! Great, that was two outfits in as many days. More money down the drain. And I didn't dare try to shoplift from one of the shinobi clothing stores again; word had gotten around and I was pretty much a banned customer now in the main shopping district.

"It ain't _my_ fault that they don't work," I said. "I know exactly how to do the jutsu. I _should_ be able to do them perfectly. But when I perform a jutsu it just…sorta twists out of my control."

"Hmm, can you explain what your chakra does when you try?"

I looked up at Hatake in surprise. He was still reading, but his tone sounded more serious than it had all day. "Er, well, it's like, like water," I said, faltering as I grasped around for the right words. "Like I'm trying to pour water through my hand, except the faucet is on as high as it can go and the water is too strong for me to do anything about." I gestured vaguely with my hands. "So even while I'm trying to direct it, it just goes in all different directions and just…goes…" I trailed off and scratched the back of my head.

"Show me the leaf exercise."

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

Hatake lowered the book and raised his eyebrow. "The leaf chakra exercise. It's one of the first things you learn in the Academy."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I know what it is," I said dryly. "But _why_?"

And the book went back up. "Listen to your sensei, Naruto-_chan_!"

Sighing, I picked up the nearest leaf. Why did I have to get stuck with a sensei who was completely insufferable? "Yeah, whatever you say _old man_," I said. I untied my forehead protector—I had a forehead protector! That thought would never lose its novelty—and placed the leaf on my forehead. As always, it took a try or two to get the leaf to stick without blasting off my forehead first, but I could do it nonetheless.

I jumped when Hatake snapped his book close and put it away. Unconsciously I straightened up, eagerly wondering what he would teach me. "Practice your Taijutsu _kata_ until 1500. I'll see you here at 0600 tomorrow," he said. Then he grinned gleefully. "And I'll know if you skip out on your _kata_, Naruto-chan!"

And then in a swirl of leaves he was gone. I stared at the spot he'd been standing in and wondered if I'd actually been stuck with a sensei, or just a stalker who taunted children for fun.

o-O-o

-8:00 AM, September 12th, 311 TE-

-Training Ground 16-

Hatake arrived two hours late at the training ground the next morning.

"Oh sure, _now_ you show up," I groused. "What, did your makeup take too long to put on this morning?" I'd spent the previous day repeating the same boring _kata_ over and over, and then started to do the same that morning while waiting. It didn't help that I'd been jumpy the entire time, half expecting to get ambushed by my 'sensei.'

"A black cat crossed my path so I had to circle around the village to avoid it," Hatake said with a grin.

God, don't tell me he was a pathological liar too. "And did the cat make you unable to use _shunshin_?" I asked pointedly

"It was a magical cat," Hatake replied without missing a beat. "It also gave me these." He held up his hand to show that he was holding what looked like a pair of silver bracelets.

I raised an eyebrow. "For your old granny harem, I presume."

Was it just me or was there a slight twitch in Hatake's eye? "Now, now Naruto-chan, play nice," he chided. "These are chakra repressing manacles. They're generally used by the Interrogation and Detention department.

"Hatake-sensei!" I released a mock-horrified gasp. "How could you expose your student to something so kinky? You're supposed to be teaching me, not corrupting me!"

Yep, there was definitely a twitch there. He looked kind of like that one smiley samurai on that show that only aired in the middle of the night. It had horrible acting and effects but more gore than a B-rated movie. I had missed the last two episodes so I'd have to find some reruns to watch later.

Ultimately Hatake just smiled again, though it seemed to be more of a 'Just wait, I will skin you while you sleep' smile than a happy smile. "Come now, don't be difficult," he said.

In an instant Hatake had crossed the distance between us and slapped one of the bands shut around my wrist. My eyes widened in shock at the feel of the cold metal closing around me, squeezing a portion of my chakra back. I ripped my wrist from Hatake's hands and swung my other fist at him, just barely missing his nose as he leaned backward. With a feral snarl I scrambled backward. I tugged at the manacle as my eyes darted around, looking for the quickest way out.

"Naruto—"

I turned to take off into the forest but suddenly Hatake was there pinning my arms behind my back. I struggled against him with every ounce of strength I had. As I twisted I bit his arm, sinking my teeth deep into his skin and clamping my jaw down as hard as I could. Blood started to leak out into my mouth and he tried to shake me off but he still had my arms held behind my back so I refused to let go. I kicked out with my legs and struck his torso but he didn't so much as grunt.

I tried to get purchase to push him away but he was like a steel cage holding me down. God, they were going to lock me up now weren't they? That's what this was really all about. They were taunting me with freedom, with my dream, making me think that I was going to be shinobi when really they thought I was too dangerous to walk around. They were going to throw me into a cell without any windows and it would be cold and dark and I could smell the earth around me closing in, ready to swallow me whole and imprison me for the rest of eternity—

Hatake twisted my upper arm suddenly, making me hiss aloud. "Naruto, calm down," he said firmly.

I stared up at him. My mouth was still clamped around his forearm and my heart was pounding in my chest, nearly ready to rip its way out of my ribcage. As it gradually started to slow down I realized that I'd been panicking, and that Hatake was still just holding me down instead of carting me off. His expression, or at least what I could see of it, was unruffled and detached, like the professional killer that he was. It kind of made me want to hit him. Again.

When Hatake didn't seem inclined to suddenly knock me out, I slowly released his arm. As I did so he let me go and I warily took a step away from him.

"Better?" Hatake said dryly.

I spat out the blood that was in my mouth and wiped my lips. Holding my head up high I said, "Yeah, well, you surprised me. You should know not to surprise a shinobi."

"You seemed more like a wild dog than a shinobi."

"What is this thing anyway?" I asked as I thrust my wrist with the manacle out toward him and ignored his comment. I was still slightly shaking from what had _not_ in any way been a panic attack, but I refused to show it or any other sign of weakness.

"It's a chakra repressor. The Interrogation and Detention department use them to restrain their…guests," Hatake answered. "There are varying levels to suit shinobi with different chakra reserves. You have a ridiculous amount of chakra, which makes your ability to control it nearly nonexistent. These have seals on them—see them?—which will give you much better control."

I picked up the second manacle he had and held it away from me as though I expected it to come alive and bite me. Stranger things had happened before. There were minuscule seals carved into every visible piece of the metal, including the inner part. I forced my shoulder muscles to loosen up as I continued to look it over.

"Why don't they just give their 'guests' the highest level ones to make sure they can't use chakra at all?"

Hatake shook his head. "Repressing chakra completely can be fatal—which is generally counterproductive to interrogation. But for you, wearing these will be like turning down the faucet, to use your analogy from yesterday," he said.

I nodded slowly. Flexing my arm with the manacle already on it, I tried to channel some chakra and could instantly feel the difference in the flow. After a moment of consideration I took a deep breath and put the second manacle on. The sound of it clicking shut sent a shiver down my spine but I stubbornly refused to flinch. I looked up to find Hatake watching me with that blank expression of his. Social conventions probably said I should thank him now for trying to help. Social conventions could go screw themselves.

After a beat of silence Hatake said, "Once you have better chakra control, we'll switch them out for even weaker ones, and so on, until you're finally able to work well without them."

"That seems like it's an easier way than it should be to get chakra control," I said. "Do I also have to sacrifice my blood every morning and pledge my non-existent soul to Jashin?"

Hatake's single eyebrow rose. "Jashin?"

"I heard it on TV," I said with a shrug.

"Of course. Well you can pledge your soul to whoever you like, but really, using this method would kill most people and even if it didn't it would take years to get only marginal results. You, however, are a unique case."

_Because of the Kyuubi_, was left unsaid.

o-O-o

_kata_ – A pattern of choreographed movements primarily used to train martial arts; lit. "form"

A/N: About updates: I'm going through and editing this story as I'm posting it, so each chapter is posted pretty much as soon as I finish it. That means there will be no set update schedule, but I should be able to post at least 1-2 chapters a week, barring scenes that haven't been finished or parts of chapters that I decide to rewrite.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed!

-S.R.

_No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear._  
-Edmund Burke


	4. Interlude I: Hatake Kakashi

Posted: May 9, 2012  
Last Updated: Feb 9, 2013  
Chapter WC: 1,176  
Story WC: 10,817

* * *

Worth Dying For

Interlude I  
_Hatake Kakashi_

* * *

-3:30 PM, September 11th, 311 TE-

-Naruto's Apartment-

Kakashi idly flipped the kunai that had nearly skewered him as he looked around Naruto's apartment. He'd never seen lethal traps like that before in an Academy student's apartment. A Chuunin's or Jounin's, sure—but an Academy student who was living on their own?

"Well I guess I can't be too surprised, all things considered," Kakashi mused aloud. He skirted around a few more trigger wires and opened the boy's fridge. There were a few containers of unidentifiable substances as well as a carton of milk that smelled slightly rancid. Kakashi picked it up, glanced at the Sell By date, and saw that it was almost three months old.

The rest of the apartment was in a similar state. There was mostly ramen in the cupboards and the trash bin was overflowing. Naruto's tableware seemed to consist solely of used plastic cups, plates, and utensils, without a single piece of glass or ceramic in sight. Despite the clutter it was primarily scrolls and textbooks that littered the floor of Naruto's living room, rather than trash. Kakashi glanced through one that was lying open on the table and was surprised to find that the chapter on chakra basics had a myriad of detailed notes scribbled in margins.

Perhaps he needed to take a closer look at Naruto's Academy grades before he started teaching him, Kakashi thought. On the Hokage's orders he'd been tailing the boy on and off for over a year now, but during that time he'd never noticed anything particularly odd about him. He paid attention in class, but his grades didn't reflect that. He had no real friends and spent most of his time training in the forests or playing pranks on seemingly random villagers.

Kakashi opened the door to the tiny closet in Naruto's bedroom and was again met with a mess—scrolls shoved into the corners with dirty clothes hanging off them, and only a couple of hangers in sight. His wardrobe didn't have much variation, Kakashi thought as he poked at a t-shirt that had been stretched over a can of paint. With a small trace of guilt he realized that the hideous orange and blue jacket he'd "accidentally" destroyed during Naruto's training had been the boy's only one. Without it Naruto had taken to wearing just the cheap black t-shirts that he seemed to have in droves, a handful of white t-shirts, and his loose orange pants. There were no other clothes in the closet. No extra pairs of pants, no coats, no socks.

A flick of his wrist closed the closet. It was almost odd how many shirts Naruto had compared to everything else, he thought, and wondered if it spoke of how often Naruto ruined them and had to replace them. Kakashi took another minute to do a final cursory sweep of the apartment, carefully cataloguing everything he saw so that he could do a more in-depth study of Naruto's habits at a later time.

With a quick application of _shunshin_, Kakashi disappeared from the apartment and made his way to the Hokage Tower. Hokage-sama was kneeling in his secondary office, silently puffing his pipe. His eyes were closed, and at first he didn't acknowledge Kakashi's presence. Then after a second his chakra flared slightly and the unseen ANBU guardians vanished, leaving the two of them alone. His chakra flared again, activating the security seals that covered every square inch of the room, and then at last the Third Hokage opened his eyes.

"Your thoughts?"

Kakashi placed his hands in his pockets and leaned back, the very picture of casual. "I think I'll wait to see how he masters the three basic Academy jutsu before I decide what to teach him," he said.

Hokage-sama took another few puffs on his pipe, then took it out and laid it down at his side. "You have been watching Naruto-kun for months now; I would have thought you would know him well enough by now to already have a plan."

"Naruto is not what I expected," Kakashi replied with a shrug. "I never had the chance to notice how quickly he…heals, so it's difficult to gauge what else I may have missed. His mid-ranking grades made me believe he was an average student, until I learned about his complete lack of chakra control that all of his Academy teachers _apparently_ overlooked. We don't know how smart he is or how strong he is, or whether the Kyuubi has any influence over him or not. He has hidden from us for twelve years, so I'm not prepared to make any assumptions on what he can do."

With a heavy sigh Hokage-sama nodded and asked, "How did the chakra suppressors you ordered work out?"

"Well enough; they didn't kill him at least, so he has even more chakra than I'd suspected. He had a severe panic attack when I first tried to put them on him though. I believe he may have some serious form of claustrophobia—though what that is from I can't even begin to guess."

Hokage-sama frowned heavily. "You noticed no similar symptoms before this?"

Kakashi shook his head and said, "No, nothing. He seems fine in closed rooms and I've seen him crawling through small spaces before."

"Keep an eye on him for now and report to me if you notice any other symptoms, or if he has another panic attack," Hokage-sama said in a thoughtful tone. "In one month you are to hand in a full psych evaluation on him and…" He paused for a moment, pursing his lips. "…And advise what you believe his threat level is."

"Sir?"

The Hokage's eyes were like two hard pieces of flint, cold and unforgiving. Kakashi involuntarily straightened his back and clenched his fists; Hokage-sama could be terrifying even without an ounce of killer intent in the room.

"Honestly, at the moment I am more concerned with Danzo. He has become more active recently. I fear that ROOT might not be as disbanded as he has promised," he said. "And even if that is not true, he has been pushing for me to turn Naruto into a weapon for years. There is no doubt in my mind that if he learned of Naruto's…abilities, he would take matters into his own hands. I want to keep a close eye on Naruto. If anything suspicious happens—either on Danzo's end or Naruto's—then bring the boy in."

"Shall I investigate ROOT as well?" Kakashi asked.

"As quietly as you can. Use your ANBU cover only for that while focus on assessing and training Naruto in between. You have six months to get him fully caught up on the academy material, and then I will give you an official team."

There was a note of finality in Hokage-sama's voice that couldn't be taken for anything other than a dismissal. Kakashi bowed shortly and then disappeared in a swirl of smoke.

In a dark upper corner of the room a small moth shook its wings and vanished.

o-O-o

A/N: Due to the way time will be skipping around a bit during the first part of this story, I decided that adding time and location markers for scenes should make it easier to follow the timeline and when exactly everything is taking place. I've already gone back and added these for the two previous chapters. "TE" stands for an era (much like CE is Common Era and BCE is Before Common Era) and specifically what it means will be explained within the story a few chapters from now.

I'd also like to get your thoughts on this change though: is it too distracting from the story, or do you think it will help you keep track of how much time has passed between scenes?

Happy reading!

-S.R.

_Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.  
_-Erica Jong


	5. Chapter 3: Akihito

Posted: May 15, 2012  
Last Updated: Feb 9, 2013  
Chapter WC: 7,245  
Story WC: 18,062

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 3  
_Akihito_

* * *

-10:30 AM, November 15th, 311 TE-

-Training Ground 16-

Hatake-sensei was a bastard.

A strong bastard, granted, but still a bastard and really not much of a sensei. His 'teaching' method was pretty much the equivalent of throwing me down a hill, then tossing a boulder down after me. I could take it, of course, but that didn't mean I hadn't broken nearly every bone in my body at some point during that past two months, on top of the hundreds of superficial cuts and bruises I got every day.

That being said, since I'd been promoted to Genin I _had_ quickly mastered the three Academy jutsu—by performing them over and over and over until I nearly keeled over from exhaustion, which was no small feat considering my healing. Hatake-sensei was still attempting to shape my Taijutsu into something that marginally resembled an actual style. Personally, I was much more comfortable brawling.

"Stop daydreaming and focus on our spar," Hatake-sensei ordered as his hand shot past my guard and hit my solar plexus, knocking the wind from my lungs. The bastard still wasn't looking up from his book.

I wheezed and quickly fled from his range as I tried to get my breath back. "You're a sadistic asshole," I coughed. "I can still feel pain, you know."

"Are you saying you can't take it?"

I glared at him. "_No_."

I jumped away from another hit and ran up the tree next to me, using chakra to stick to it and then a moment later to push myself away. As I sailed over Hatake-sensei I grabbed his shoulders and tried to pull him down with me, but he used the _kawarimi _jutsu to replace himself with a log. That was officially the most annoying technique ever and if I ever found out who first created it I would happily dig up their grave, revive them with a super-secret necromancy technique, and slowly torture them back to death.

Of course that didn't mean that two seconds later I didn't use the technique myself when Hatake-sensei suddenly burst out of the ground beneath me and attempted to grab my ankles. I'd been caught in that technique once before and nearly freaked out again, an experience which I _definitely_ didn't want to relive. Why was Hatake-sensei always so intent on using capturing techniques on me?

I glared down at my sensei from the upper boughs of a tree, silently glad that he had taught me the tree-walking exercise. My chakra control had improved a lot in the past two months. It was still completely atrocious compared to pretty much every other shinobi _ever_, but I'd been moved down one level of chakra suppressors and to me that was fantastic. I still failed miserably whenever I tried water-walking, no matter how much I practiced, but that was beside the point. I had never quite gotten used to the feeling of metal around my wrists though.

Hatake-sensei snapped his book close. I instantly stilled. I'd come to greatly fear the times he put his little orange books away, because it _never_ meant anything good for me. I had nightmares about it, dammit! How could orange be connected to something so completely _evil_?

"I think that's enough for today," he said. "You've got a mission this afternoon!"

I blinked at him. "What?" I said blankly, caught off guard. A second later my eyes lit up and I leapt to the ground to stand by him. "Finally! It's been two damn months since I became a Genin! I thought you were waiting for the Sage of the Six Paths to rise from the grave and ask you on date or something." Hmm, I wondered if the Sage of the Six Paths was the one who invented _kawarimi_. That bared further investigation.

"You were still at Academy level, despite my valiant efforts to improve your skills. However, thanks to my patient teaching you have finally risen above."

My eyes gleamed. "Are you saying that I've got Genin-level skills now?" I asked.

Hatake-sensei paused to reconsider what he'd said and I danced in my head at the idea that he was undoubtedly silently swearing in his head. He would probably rather sleep with a porcupine than ever hand out a compliment.

"Yes," he said grudgingly at last.

My smile widened to stretch across my face. "Well what are you waiting for, the 4th Great Shinobi War? What's the mission?!"

"You still have to get it first. Meet me at the Hokage Tower," he said. And with a quick application of _shunshin_ he was gone.

I felt my eye twitch, but I'd become too used to him ditching me to be truly annoyed. Hefting a sigh, I took off at a run toward the village. As soon as I reached the outer district I took to the rooftops, marveling as always at the feeling of leaping through the air like a true shinobi. It was almost like flying.

The trip was over much too soon. I entered through one of the tall, open entries halfway up the tower, vaulting over an exiting shinobi and using chakra to immediately come to a stop. Hatake-sensei was already waiting there, and he led me deeper into the tower.

"What are you, psychic?" I demanded. "There are five damn entrances to the Tower! How the hell did you know I'd use this one?" My eyes narrowed. "You're stalking me again, aren't you?"

Hatake-sensei rolled his eyes. "This one may not face the direction you came from, but there's a tall building across from it," he replied. "The one that was technically closer to you was two stories down, so you would have to scale the tower to reach it. Not to mention that your chakra stands out like a beacon to anyone with even the slightest bit of skill as a sensor." He stopped in front of a wide doorway that led into a large room that was filled with activity. "But never mind that now. Here is the Mission Center."

The Mission Center was ultimately little more than a large, open room with half a dozen tables spread out near the walls. Each one was manned by a Chuunin or two and had scrolls piled on top of them. The scrolls were all color coded by table, which I assumed separated their rank or type or something. Hatake-sensei casually walked up to the nearest table. Before he could say anything the Chuunin there, a man with a crescent scar beneath his left eye, smiled and held out two scrolls. The first was in a red velvet container with gold lining and had some fancy seal that prevented it from being opened. There were even _tassels _hanging from the ends. I shuddered just from looking at the blatant, ostentatious display of wealth. Bastards. The second scroll was green and little more than a scrap of paper in comparison.

"Perfect timing," the Chuunin said. "We need someone to take care of this D-rank right away. It's a quick courier mission, so it only needs one person."

"Hmm, I was thinking of something a little more challenging—like grocery shopping," Hatake-sensei replied. My stomach lurched and I really hoped he was joking. Seriously, a shinobi _grocery shopping_ for a mission?

The Chuunin's polite smile never wavered. He was smiling with his eyes closed—I noticed because that was what I did when I didn't actually want to smile at whoever I was facing. "I'm sorry Jounin-san, but I'm under strict instructions to give this mission out before any others," he said.

Hatake-sensei hefted a heavy sigh. "Alright, alright," he said. "Naruto-kun, take the scrolls so that we can get started."

I hurried up to the desk and took the two of them. The simple green scroll turned out to contain the actual mission parameters. In essence, I was to bring the red scroll to a manor in the outer district of Hidden Leaf Village. I frowned at the directions I was given. If I had my bearings right, it was in the district where all the nobles from Keishi—Fire Country's capital—had their summer homes.

Hatake-sensei nudged my shoulder. "Ready?"

"You're coming with me? Do I _look_ like I need babysitting for something like this?" I asked, scowling. I was a Genin and it was just a courier mission, dammit!

He quirked an eyebrow. "I'm your sensei. I am required to come with you," he said. "But you're doing all the work; I won't say a word."

"Right, you'll just stand there looking pretty while silently praying that I trip and fall flat on my face."

"A shinobi never trips," Hatake-sensei said with one of his patented closed eye smiles.

I grumbled a bit more under my breath. "Exactly."

The manor, it turned out, was a sprawling single floor complex that reeked of tradition. It was encircled by a high stone wall that had several guards posted by the gate. The front lawn was less of a lawn and more of an extensive, carefully manicured garden. I could hear a small creek running somewhere on the property.

"What is your business?" one of the armored guards demanded.

I held up the mission scroll. "I'm looking for an, er, Takauji Akihito? I've got a scroll for him."

The man eyed Hatake-sensei suspiciously, his gaze lingering on his weapon pouches. "Fine," he said. "But just you, kid."

I glanced back at Hatake-sensei. When he nodded, I shrugged; it wasn't like I hadn't wanted to do this alone in the first place. Pushing my discomfort aside, I followed the guard down a symmetrically laid stone path to the main house. I wrinkled my nose as we passed by a seven foot tall stone statue of some samurai warrior. There was a metal plaque at its base, but I couldn't make out what it said. I also caught a glimpse of a large koi pond underneath a cherry blossom tree at the side of the complex, but I was ushered inside before I could do more than crane my neck to look.

The room I was led to was clearly decorated for visitors. I shifted from foot to foot as I looked around at the gold framed paintings and ancient looking porcelain vases—and then grimaced down at the plush purple rug beneath my feet.

I looked up when the _shōji _door slid open and an aging man with a goatee stepped inside. He folded his hands inside his traditional robes and regarded me with cold eyes.

"You have a scroll, shinobi-san?"

"Are you Takauji Akihito?" I asked as I held up the red scroll.

His lips thinned. "No. I am Sazaki, Akihito-sama's guardian," he said. "You will give the scroll to me."

My hand froze and my gaze narrowed. "I was instructed to deliver the scroll to Takauji Akihito."

"And I am telling you to give it to me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, _Sazaki-san_." The fingers of my free hand twitched toward the weapon pouch strapped to my thigh. "I don't know if you're aware about how shinobi missions work, but when we are instructed to deliver something to someone, we deliver it to _that person_." And I sure as hell wasn't going to screw up my first mission, no matter who this rich asshole was.

"It is quite alright, Sazaki," a soft voice said from the doorway.

Sazaki tensed and I blinked in surprise, leaning around the man to see a teenage boy who was about five years older than me. He had average features and dark hair that was pulled back into a long, loose braid that reached halfway down his back.

"I beg your pardon, Akihito-sama," Sazaki murmured. He bowed and then swept from the room without waiting for a reply.

The boy sighed. "My apologies for the trouble," he said. "Sazaki means well, but he tends to come on a bit…strong."

"He seems like a bastard to me."

A surprised laugh slipped from Takauji's lips. He flushed in embarrassment, as though he wasn't supposed to laugh, and looked at me with something akin to amazement. "Yes," he agreed, "I suppose that is one way of putting it."

I shrugged and held out the red scroll again. "Here."

As soon as he'd accepted it, Takauji pressed his hand to the seal. It glowed briefly and then popped open with a quiet click. I wondered why someone who was clearly a civilian was using a chakra seal. As far as I knew, those things were customized and expensive as hell. Basic seals like explosion tags were easy to create, but identification seals were much more complex and thereby a good deal harder to come by. I doubted that anyone other than a seal master could even copy one.

Takauji hummed as he read the scroll inside. "Not even important. I keep telling my uncle that he does not need to go to measures like these for basic correspondence," he said with a sigh.

I shrugged uncomfortably and leaned against one of the vase pedestals as he read. My eyes raked over the hand painted vase, noticing the faint cracks that ran down its side.

"Akihito-sama! Please stop skipping your painting lessons!" a woman's sharp voice barked. As the woman threw back the door, I quickly straightened up, and then panicked when the pedestal rocked back and the vase tilted forward. My hands shot out and caught it, setting it right before the woman could walk into view. The teen began to laugh again, but I was just glad nothing had happened—that vase was probably worth more than I'd make in the next ten years.

The woman stopped short when she saw me standing in the room. She was relatively young, but her hair was pulled back into a tight bun that made her look severe. Her gaze cut to Takauji and her frown deepened.

"I was unaware that you had a guest, Akihito-sama," she said in a controlled tone.

Takauji's gaze flickered to me for a moment, his face lighting up. "Yes, I do. I am afraid I will have to pass the lesson for today," he said merrily.

Though she certainly didn't look happy, the woman nodded, and then bowed. "Pardon me," she said, before she too disappeared.

"Thank god," Takauji muttered. He waited a moment before poking his head around the _shōji _door. "Come; let us go before someone else comes by."

I dubiously followed him down the hall and out a side entrance, wondering exactly what he wanted. We passed by a couple servants on the way, and they all bowed to Takauji.

"Who are you anyway?" I asked as we crossed the gardens. "Your parents are nobles or something, right?"

Takauji's steps faltered for a brief second. "Were."

"Huh?"

"They were nobles. They died when I was young." He glanced around and then changed directions to the koi pond I'd seen earlier. Except it wasn't a pond so much as it was a small lake that wrapped around the side of the complex. There was a little red bridge that crossed over the narrowest point.

"Oh." I shrugged again. "Me too."

Takauji paused at that and looked back at me. "Really?" he asked with raised eyebrows. He smiled faintly. "Is your guardian as bad as mine? He is like a vulture at times."

I snorted. "I don't have a guardian. And I'd rather swallow a can of nails before getting one."

The older boy's eyebrows rose higher, then pulled down into a frown. "But you are young," he said.

"I'm a shinobi," I pointed out. "That makes me a legal adult."

"Yes, but..." He was definitely a civilian if he struggled with a concept like this, I thought amusedly. "Well, I suppose it would be different for you," Takauji said with a shake of his head. "My apologies if I seem uncouth; I have never been to Hidden Leaf Village before this year. I am from Keishi and we do not have many shinobi."

My eyebrow rose at the mention of Fire Country's capital. Takauji just shook his head again.

"Regardless," he continued, "my uncle is the daimyo, so it is true that Sazaki keeps a closer eye on me than most."

"Your uncle?" I repeated, honestly surprised. "What're you doing in Hidden Leaf Village then?"

Takauji grimaced. "My aunt, Shijimi, is 'vacationing' here. I agreed to come with her, though I would not have if I had had a choice," he said. Then he flushed. "Ah, not that there is anything wrong with Hidden Leaf Village! I just... I do not spend much time with my relatives. I always have to study this subject or that, working on painting or economics or poetry or a thousand other things."

"Definitely different from the training I do," I mused.

"Do you train often?" Takauji asked curiously.

I noticed the grass nearby rustling slightly. It stopped a moment later and I dragged my gaze back up to the Takauji's. "All day, every day," I said. "But I have to, if I want to get better."

"I presume that you enjoy being a shinobi then."

"Of course." I waved my hand vaguely. "It's all I've ever wanted to do."

"I cannot imagine doing something like that," Takauji mused with another shake of his head. "I suppose I have no right to complain about my life. I—"

I abruptly stomped on the ground, catching the tail of a snake beneath his my foot. The snake hissed and in a flash whipped around to bite my ankle, right below the hem of my pants. I grimaced as I felt its fangs pierce my flesh, and then drove a kunai through its skull and pinned it to the ground.

"Damn," I muttered. "I'd forgotten that these things are more common at this end of Hidden Leaf Village." Not to mention that I spent most of my time at the training grounds, where animals were rare to nonexistent. I wiped the kunai clean on my pants, letting the snake fall back into the grass.

Takauji was spluttering, dumbstruck. "That was a mamushi!" he said.

"Yeah, well, it's a dead mamushi now."

"It _bit_ you!" Takauji sounded genuinely horrified. "You must go to a doctor! They are the most poisonous snakes in Fire Country!"

Even if that were true, the poison was probably already cleansed from my system. "Don't worry; I'll be fine. I'm a fast healer. It's a shinobi thing," I added, glad that he wouldn't actually know any better.

Takauji looked down at my ankle dubiously. He shook his head. "I truly cannot understand how confident you are," he said.

I shrugged uncomfortably. It wasn't as though anything had really happened.

"Naruto." Hatake-sensei appeared suddenly next to us, causing Takauji to jump in surprise. "Let's get going; you have _kata_ to work on."

"Uh, sure sensei. I was just—"

"Now, Naruto," he said. A second later he disappeared again. I frowned, wondering at the source of his terseness.

"You heard him," I told Takauji with a shrug. "My mission's done, so I've got to go."

"It is my fault for keeping you," Takauji said. "I should not have used you as a scapegoat from my lessons. Thank you for your time—Naruto, was it?"

I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Then I thank you, Naruto-san." To my bewilderment, he bowed slightly. "I will show you to the entrance, if it pleases you."

"Uhh, it's no problem. I can just use the wall."

"Oh. Right..."

An awkward silence fell between the two of us. We must have made an odd sight—him dressed in a dark yukata and me in an orange and black shinobi outfit, with a dead snake between us. I sketched a quick bow in his direction and made a beeline for the wall.

o-O-o

-9:00 AM, November 24th, 311 TE-

-Training Ground 16-

"This is chakra paper," Hatake-sensei said. He held up a square of paper about half the size of an explosion tag. A second later there was a faint crunching sound as it suddenly crinkled up.

"Paper that ruins itself?" was my reply. "How useful."

"It's chakra paper," he repeated. "As you know, most jutsu are elemental in nature. To perform these jutsu, you have to have an affinity for its element. If you don't, trying to learn it will just be a waste of time. Someone with fire affinity trying to learn a water jutsu would be like trying to fit a square through a round hole. You follow?"

"No, I'm just watching your lips move for the hell of it." Hatake-sensei ignored my sarcasm with an ease born of months of practice. I sighed; it was getting more and more difficult to get a rise out of him, which meant more boredom for me. "Does this mean you're going to start teaching me more jutsu?"

Hatake-sensei gave me his closed eye smile. "Naturally. But as I said, first we have to find out what your affinity is. And that's where chakra paper comes in. This paper is made from a special type of tree that is fed with chakra as it grows. When you channel a bit of chakra into it, it will react depending on the latent nature of your chakra. If you are lightning-natured, it crumples. Wind-natured, it gets cut in half. Fire-natured, it burns. Water-natured, it gets wet. Earth-natured, it turns to dust."

"So it's still paper that ruins itself," I pointed out.

"Then think of it as samurai paper that blindly sacrifices itself for the sake of your training," Hatake-sensei retorted. I snorted, amused.

He took out a fresh piece of chakra paper and handed it to me. I quickly snatched it up, curious about what my element was. This was the sort of stuff that they barely even touched on in the Academy—not that the Academy taught us much in the first place, in my opinion. I'd learned more from Hatake-sensei this fall than I had in my years there. Tossing such thoughts from my mind, I eagerly channeled my chakra into the paper—perhaps a bit too much, as the paper instantly split in my grip with enough force to jerk my hands apart.

I grinned widely. "Wind it is! So, what jutsu are you gonna teach me?"

"Ah-ah, don't get ahead of yourself," Hatake-sensei said. "Before you can start learning jutsu, you have to familiarize yourself with how to mould your chakra to wind natured chakra. And to do that, we're going back to the basics." He held up a single leaf, smiling widely enough that I could just see it through his mask.

Oh, he was definitely a sadistic bastard. I took the leaf and stared down at it spitefully. "What am I supposed to do, blow it around with wind?" I held it up to mouth and blew, making it flutter away. "Look, I'm a wind master! Now what about the jutsu?"

The Jounin rolled his eyes. "If that's you using chakra then I think we need to up your suppressors again." I tightly crossed my arms before me, keeping my wrists hidden, and glared at him. "No?" he said with another smile. "Then let's continue. I want you to place the leaf in your hand and using only your chakra...split it into two equal halves! Won't this be fun?"

"Oh yeah? No problem!" I growled. "I'll have this done in a matter of minutes."

Hatake-sensei chuckled in a condescending, I-know-something-you-don't sort of way. "Oh, I highly doubt that," he said. "It takes some shinobi years to master how to alter the nature of their chakra. This exercise is something that I want you to work on in-between the rest of your training, when you have some extra time. For now, you have another mission. Race you there!" He used _shunshin_ to vanish, and was probably already at the Tower.

I picked up another leaf and tucked it away in one of my pockets. I wanted to finish the exercise soon, so I _would_ do so, and it was as simple as that. People like my Academy teachers had quickly learned that when I wanted to finish something, I did so. They'd bet that I couldn't memorize the entire textbook chapter on the first shinobi war in an afternoon and then I came out and blew their minds. That week I made their wallets cry and ate like a daimyo.

I also never told them I cheated, but if they, _shinobi_, couldn't figure it out then I sure as hell wasn't going to say a word. Chuunin teachers always made the best targets anyway. They were strong enough to be confident about their skills but just weak enough that their arrogance blinded them to simple, obvious solutions.

Patting my pocket once to make sure that the leaf was secure, I took off after Hatake-sensei. As soon as I left the training grounds I took to the buildings and roof-hopped toward the center of town. I really needed to learn _shunshin_ soon; Hatake-sensei kept taking off and leaving me behind. You'd think I would get used to it after months of working with him, but it was still annoying as hell, especially since I had at least one mission a day now. Most of the missions were simple ones that I could do alone, but every now and then I was paired up with a team of other Genin.

D-rank missions were also pitifully boring. It was almost a waste of time that I could be using to train—except that I got paid, which made it worth it. Today, however, turned out to be one of those days that I was foisted off onto the closest unsuspecting team. A familiar, very loud, very _green_ team.

"My eternal rival!" Maito Gai boomed with his arms spread wide and his mouth forming a blinding grin. "It is an honor that we have a chance to work together again!" In the blink of an eye Hatake-sensei was gone, leaving me alone with the Green Beast. "It would seem he has many hip things to do today! But I am glad he took the time to drop you off, Naruto-kun!" Maito said, not looking the slightest bit put off at Hatake-sensei's abrupt escape. He was probably used to it.

"Yeah, me too…" I muttered. I made a mental note to put some frogs in the bed of my 'dear teacher' when I had the chance.

Three Genin followed Maito into the Mission Center at a more sedate pace. I knew them as Utatane Tenten, Hyuuga Neji, and Lee. Lee had never given his last name and started spouting off about the 'flames of youth' when I asked, so I just let it slide, no matter how uncomfortable I was with the familiarity of calling someone by their given name.

"Great," Hyuuga scoffed when he saw me. "Try not to get in our way this time, _boy_."

"Yeah, because _I_ was the one who broke the fence while painting it," I said dryly. He stared coldly at me and turned his nose up, so I glared back. I'd been on two joint missions with this team before and both times I'd found that Hyuuga had a bigger stick up his ass than most of the Chuunin I knew. I hated people like him.

"Let's receive our glorious mission!" Maito exclaimed before Hyuuga could reply. "Our Flames of Youth will push us on to victory!"

The 'glorious mission' turned out to be an investigation.

"Chickens?" I repeated incredulously. "We're looking into the deaths of some _chickens_?"

The Chuunin behind the desk gave me a dull look. "They keep turning up dead even after a fence was put up and the client wants to know what the cause is. He claims it's a 'ghoul', so we need you to find out what's actually going on," he said, bored with the entire procedure.

A chicken-eating ghoul? That had to be the worst explanation I'd ever heard. I bit back a yawn as the Chuunin finished his explanation and gave us directions to the client's house. I followed casually behind the rest of my temporary team as we headed out, secure in the knowledge that this was probably going to be one of the more boring missions I'd been on lately.

o-O-o

-10:00 AM, November 24th, 311 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Southern Quarter-

Utatane took the lead and rapped smartly on the door. For a moment there was no response, then we heard someone shuffling around inside. A moment later the door opened and a middle aged man with dark bags underneath his eyes poked his head out. His gaze flickered over our outfits and he seemed to sag, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Trembling noticeably, he gripped the doorframe tightly and I thought it was probably the only thing holding him up.

Frankly, he looked like shit.

"Thank god," the man muttered. "I thought— I thought you weren't coming."

Utatane looked concerned. With a furrowed brow she said, "Sir, are you alright?"

The man shook his head, but didn't seem to have heard her question. "I can't— sleep. Or work…or think." His voice dipped down low, growing hoarse as he shivered. "It started a few weeks ago when my chickens started disappearing. I thought it w-was just some foxes or dogs getting into the p-pen at first, so I had a new one installed, but— It kept happening anyway. I—I found the gate unlatched a few times, like a person had gone in, so I stayed up one night waiting to catch the thief. I s-saw—"

He shuddered violently this time and slipped down the door frame. Lee stepped forward quickly and grabbed the man before he could fall. Half holding him up, Lee helped the man to sit down on the steps, then ran inside and returned a minute later with a glass of water. The man smiled gratefully as he took a sip. I never would have said it aloud, but I found myself marginally impressed by Lee's manners. I had taken him for more of a 'punch it until it submits' type of person like me.

"What did you see?" Hyuuga demanded bluntly. I repressed a snort. There was another surprise; I thought nobles like the Hyuuga were supposed to be the ones with good manners. Hyuuga Neji was more like a pit bull with a bur in his foot. I wondered if he'd always been this sullen, or if he had been dropped on his head as a child.

When he could speak again the man continued, "I saw a dark…shape. It was a great b-beast, the size of a— a bear, but l-long and lean. I've never seen any…anything like it before. It— it reached up and undid the— the latch on the g-gate with some sort of unholy magic." A shudder ran through him again. "It was some kind of malicious spirit or demon! It didn't…it didn't even make a s-sound in the grass and left no tracks on the ground…"

God, he sounded like an old radio I'd once tried to salvage that had had its gears sticking out the back. I hadn't been able to fix the radio and eventually tossed it, and now I felt like I was about two seconds from doing the same with this man. I turned away and rolled my eyes. Utatane caught my gaze and gave me a _look_.

She shushed the man and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We'll go take a look around the area," she assured him. "Did you see anything else?"

He hesitated. "I-I found the bodies of a few chickens d-down near the lake. They…they were mostly eaten and had been there for a w-while, sunken in the water and covered by branches. No animal would know to hide them like that!" he insisted vehemently, half rising from the steps. "It's not _natural_!"

Utatane firmly pushed him back down and he sat with an explosive sigh. "We will take a look," she repeated. "Stay here; we'll be back in a bit." She straightened, jumped off the steps, and then began walking around the side of the house with long, quick strides. Lee followed her immediately so with my own silent sigh I did as well.

It seemed to me that this mission was going to be more trouble than it was worth. The client clearly had a one way ticket to Hidden Leaf Village's mental asylum. And even if there really was a 'ghoul,' why was he so afraid of it? It had only eaten his chickens, never attacked him or caused damage. All signs pointed to the cause of his fears being harmless as a declawed kitten with an appetite for chicken wings—hopefully the spicy kind, which were my favorite. Our client was jumping at shadows like the superstitious old man he was.

At the back of the farmhouse was a large wooden chicken coop that was almost half the size of my apartment. There was a five foot tall wire fence surrounding the yard around the coop, and no chickens in sight. Utatane flicked the latch on the gate. I paused at the sight of it, suddenly less sure of myself.

"It requires opposable thumbs to open," Utatane announced as she pressed up on the bottom of the latch, showing how it worked.

The veins around Hyuuga's face bulged as he activated his eyes. He tilted his head slightly, then released a breath of air and deactivated the Byakugan. "There is nothing unusual around. There are only chickens inside the coop and no other living beings apart from the client and the animals," he said.

"What if it really is a spirit?" Lee said with a tone of awe in his voice.

"We will split up," Hyuuga said authoritatively. "I'll head down to the lake where the client said he found the hidden corpses. Tenten, you check the eastern part of the property. Lee, head through the forest on the western part and see what you can find. Naruto…" He turned his nose up again. "You can stay around the building in case the 'spirit' comes back."

Part of me wanted to flip Hyuuga off and tell him exactly where he could put his bossy attitude. A larger part of me, however, rose up and reminded the angry part of me that Hyuuga was accidentally handing me a free pass to do nothing for this mission and still get paid—something which I eagerly jumped on.

Grinning widely, I reached over and slapped Hyuuga on the shoulder. "Sounds good to me, boss-man. I'll see you guys when you get back, yeah?"

Hyuuga froze like a deer that had just seen its family murdered in cold blood. He opened and closed his mouth, then his face grew red and he spun around and stalked off with as much grace as he could manage. Utatane rolled her eyes and headed around the house to the east while Lee took off toward the trees. I rolled my shoulders in an easy shrug and took a seat on the ground up against the back of the house. I wondered briefly if I'd still get my pay for the mission if I took off now. Hyuuga would probably rather pretend he'd had control of me the whole time than admit that I bailed.

I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. Frowning, I turned my head to the left. The deck of the client's house stretched out a good half a dozen feet from the bulk of the house there. It was raised up off the ground by nearly two feet and through the bushes that surrounded it I could see only darkness in the space beneath it. I was about to look away when I saw the movement again, barely noticeable in the darkness.

Suddenly alert, I palmed a few shuriken in one hand while using the other to push myself up into a crouched position. I couldn't see anything beneath the deck, but I trusted my instincts more than my eyesight. It never occurred to me to call for backup—one of the downsides to being accustomed to being on a one-man team. I just crept up to the deck and stopped in front of the bushes.

I wondered if it really was a spirit like the client thought. More likely it was a homeless civilian with some basic shinobi training who was bumming off this property. My hand tightened on my shuriken at that thought, but an Academy dropout was definitely something I could handle. I could think of better places to hide than under a deck though…

"You can come out now," I said. "I can take apart the entire deck if I need to, but I'd rather not put out that much effort today."

Nothing moved in the darkness. I frowned, then sighed.

"Fine, fine," I said nonchalantly.

It was too bad that I didn't know any fire jutsu; that would have gotten whoever was down there out pretty quickly. Instead, I reached into one of my pouches and withdrew a small pocket flashlight that I always kept with me. I turned it on and flashed the light through the darkness—

I immediately yelped in shock and scrambled backward when the face of a tiger was illuminated only a few feet from me.

"Holy shit!" I began swearing loudly as I jumped back onto my feet. I balanced there on the balls of my feet for a moment, tense and waiting for an attack that didn't come.

My frown deepened when once again nothing moved in the darkness beneath the deck. Half wondering if it was just a statue or something that had been left there, I slowly approached the bushes again, this time holding a kunai out in front of me while holding the flashlight in my other hand. As the light pierced through the darkness beneath the deck, the tiger was once again illuminated. It blinked slowly at me.

I sucked in a breath of air sharply, but still the tiger didn't move. I stared at it, having never seen one before. It was lying on its side and its eyes were bloodshot and droopy. To me it looked like it was exhausted and sick; I could literally see its ribs through the fur of its hide. I doubted it could leap at me even if it wanted to.

"So you're the client's 'ghoul,'" I mused to myself. That didn't answer the question of how it had opened the latch on the chicken pen though, or how Hyuuga had missed him when he'd looked around with his Byakugan. Wasn't it supposed to see through walls and everything? I sighed aloud. Well at least now I could see Hyuuga's face light up with frustration when he found out I'd already completed the mission.

The tiger opened its maw and a loud pant came out. It panted again and then, almost so quietly that I couldn't hear it, it said, "Food…"

I stared. There was no way in hell I'd just heard a tiger talk. I was obviously hearing things and had gone insane much faster than I was expecting.

"…Please…" the tiger panted.

I swallowed the protests that had been building in my throat. If there was one thing I believed, it was that no one deserved to starve. "Just hold on," I said and then slowly stood.

Leaving the property was easy enough. It didn't take me long to head into the market district and find a butcher willing to sell me a large chunk of deer meat, though hauling it back was a fair deal harder. I managed to get it back to the deck without anyone noticing or asking questions. Thankfully my temporary teammates were nowhere in sight.

When I dropped the meat—large enough for several steaks—in front of the tiger it just stared for a moment. Then in a burst of energy it tore into it, gobbling it down in a few massive bites. When it had finished it licked its chops, set its head down on its paws, and tiredly closed its eyes.

I drew back from the bushes and sat down on the ground. Staring down at my hands, I silently asked myself what I was doing. I found a _talking tiger_ underneath a civilian's deck and my response was to feed it? I must have been more screwed up than I thought.

I was still sitting in silence when Utatane came back half an hour later. "Nothing," she said with a sigh. "Not even any tracks. I'm starting to wonder if it's not just in the client's head…" She grimaced.

Hyuuga and Lee joined us shortly with similar results. Hyuuga had found no sign of the corpses the client had claimed were hidden there and Lee hadn't even come across any wildlife in the woods around the property. I silently wondered if the tiger had scared them all away. Somehow I just couldn't open my mouth and point out the tiger lying behind me under the deck. Even when Hyuuga sneered at my 'uselessness,' I just stared at him until he grew unnerved and looked away.

"Hello my youthful students!" Maito exclaimed when he joined us. "How has your mission gone?"

"We couldn't find anything," Utatane said with a shake of her head. "There wasn't even any evidence that chickens have been dying."

"I told you, he is just a crazy old man," Hyuuga said with a derisive scoff.

"There must be something we have missed!" Lee said. He was always quick to defend people, I'd noticed.

Hyuuga scoffed again. "I had my Byakugan on and I couldn't see anything near the lake. It's no 'dumping ground,'" he said. "A few chickens probably escaped and the client is taking it as being the work of a spirit. It's ridiculous."

"You're unusually quiet, Naruto-kun," Maito observed. I shrugged wordlessly.

I could almost feel the tiger watching from behind me.

I came back to the client's home the next day. Our mission had been categorized as 'incomplete' rather than 'failed,' pending a psych evaluation for the client, but I couldn't keep my mind off it. The tiger was under the deck right where I'd last seen it. It watched me beneath lidded eyes as I crouched down in front of the opening beneath the deck, but didn't move. I dropped another hunk of meat in front of it, barely holding back a wince at the sound of my hard-earned money being thrown away. Again the tiger devoured it in seconds, but it didn't look any healthier than the day before—if anything it looked sicker.

"You're a summoned animal, aren't you?" I said after a moment. "That's the only way you could talk—if you were a summon." There was a rumbling in the back of its throat, but it didn't otherwise reply so I continued, "I thought summons were supposed to go back to wherever they came from when they're done though? …Or can't you leave?"

Silence was the only response I got. The tiger shut its eyes completely and seemed to drift off into sleep. Gritting my teeth, I quickly left.

o-O-o

_kawarimi_ – Body Replacement technique  
_shōji_ – traditional Japanese sliding screen doors

A/N: So, yes, Akihito is an OC. I spent hours ripping through the Naruto wiki, looking at information on every minor Naruto character I could get my hands on, trying to find a character who would suit my needs for this story and came up completely dry. I considered twisting a minor character's back story/personality/etc. to fit instead, but that's pretty much the same as creating an OC anyway. Of course, 99% of the characters in Naruto are shinobi and I was looking for a civilian and a noble, so I suppose that's not too surprising. Either way, yes Akihito is an OC. I can say that he will be the only major character in this story who will be an OC though, so those of you who don't like OCs don't need to worry. Also, Akihito looks a bit like a dark haired, 16 year old version of Sai from Hikaru no Go.

In chapter 2 I briefly mentioned how _henge_ is portrayed in this story, but I realize it may have been a bit vague so I will explain further now. The way I view _henge_, or at least how it will be for this story, is as such: _Henge_ is not a physical transformation. If you change into a bird, you can't fly. If you change into someone who's 9 feet tall, you won't actually be nine feet tall. Basically, it's a chakra construct. Despite that, however, it's a Ninjutsu, not a Genjutsu. Genjutsu are defined in canon as illusion techniques that manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, tricking their senses. With henge the illusion is around the user to make them look different—real in appearance to anyone who sees it, but not actually solid. Hence, Ninjutsu instead of Genjutsu.

And finally, mamushi is the most common snake species in Japan. It's also the most venomous, and kills about 10 people a year (out of 2000-3000 bitten though, which isn't too bad).

Happy reading!

—S.R.

_Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.  
_-Herodotus


	6. Chapter 4: Underground

Posted: May 23, 2012  
Last Updated: May 23, 2012  
Chapter WC: 4,160  
Story WC: 22,197

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 4  
_Underground_

* * *

-8:00 AM, February 6th, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village's Northern Gate-

My first mission out of the village came in the beginning of spring, just before the cherry blossoms began to bloom. I was told nothing of the mission before hand, only to meet Hatake-sensei near the northern gate and pack for a week's worth of travel. I'd never been outside the village walls before, so to say that I was excited would be an understatement. Visions of towering cities, expanses of desert, icecaps, and jungles were flickering through my mind. I'd snuck into the movie theater a couple of times before and seen such places on the screen, but with all my training these days I barely had enough time and energy to drag myself to the ramen stand, let alone do something fun. And of course, an actual vacation was completely out of the question.

I arrived at the gates early in the morning with a pack strapped to my back. My pockets were filled to the brim with weapons and I had enough food to make a chef jealous. I'd made sure to completely seal my apartment before I left too; if anyone tried to break in they'd be found dead the next day and with me far enough away to escape any blame.

There was no one else at the gate other than the two Chuunin stationed there—and thankfully I recognized neither as one of my prank victims—so I took a seat on an empty stool next to them and dropped my pack onto the ground. One of the Chuunin, a young man who was wearing his _hitai-ate_ like a bandanna and had his hair flattened over his right eye, spared me a glance.

"Mission out of the village?" he asked.

I shrugged and leaned back against the wall. "Yeah, I'm just waiting for my sensei," I said. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was already after 7, the designated meeting time. "He'll probably be late."

The Chuunin nodded and went back to whatever he'd been doing—which happened to be balancing a kunai by its point on his finger. I frowned at the sight, thinking that the weight of the kunai should prevent that from working, at least not without cutting him. He must have seen my look, because he flashed me a grin and then tossed me the kunai.

"It's a chakra exercise," he explained. "Have you learned tree-walking yet?"

"Yeah?"

"This is kind of like that, except you're just channeling chakra into a small point on your finger. You don't want to make the kunai stick, because it would probably cut you. Instead, you want just enough to push the metal away from your skin while still pulling down enough that it stays in place."

That sounded a lot like a controlled version of water walking to me.

I nearly jerked my hand away when the Chuunin grabbed my wrist, but months of fighting with Hatake-sensei in close quarters had made me a lot less jumpy around other people. So instead of ripping my arm away, I just stilled while he took the kunai by its ring and held it above my hand. I pointed my index finger up just like he had, so that it was right below the tip of the metal.

"Channel your chakra so that it makes a thin thread only from the point of your finger. Use as small of an amount as you can," the Chuunin instructed.

I narrowed my eyes at the kunai and did as he'd said. It occurred to me that he'd never actually asked if I wanted to learn, but my desire to improve at pretty much anything far outweighed feeling miffed at someone telling me what to do. I channeled chakra as he'd told me to, using the smallest amount that I could—which for me was still a fair amount, but certainly buckets less than it had been a few months ago.

The kunai bobbed upward as my chakra pushed against it. The Chuunin slowly released the kunai. It shook for a moment, then promptly fell over and clattered to the ground. I grimaced, but the Chuunin just grinned and handed me the kunai again.

I spent the next half hour attempting—and failing miserably—to balance the kunai using my chakra. The two Chuunin watched me with half an eye, clearly amused by my utter lack of control over my chakra. By the time Hatake-sensei got there, I was scowling and more than ready to stab something or someone with the kunai.

But Hatake-sensei wasn't alone. I was dumbfounded to watch him walk up to the gate leading a caravan consisting of two large wagons, a couple noblemen on horseback, and an entire contingency of samurai guards. While I gaped at the sight, Hatake-sensei cheerfully walked up to the booth and handed over a stack of paperwork and IDs.

"The hell?" I hissed at my sensei.

"Protection mission," Hatake-sensei replied.

"What, are the samurai just actors dressed up for show?" I questioned as I eyed the swords they were all carrying. "Why the hell are they hiring a Genin?"

Hatake-sensei gave me a look I couldn't quite decipher. "You were requested specifically, actually." While I gaped he continued on with a wave of his hand, "And besides, it's always good to have a few guards in the shadows. They're not expecting any trouble as far as I can see though."

"They sure as fuck look like they're expecting a damn invasion," I muttered. I wondered if I'd been requested because of the Kyuubi. And if so, was that a good or a bad thing?

"Behave yourself Naruto," Hatake-sensei said coolly. He accepted the paperwork back from the Chuunin guards with a nod. "It always ends messily when a shinobi gets mixed up in politics."

"Politics? How is this—?"

I cut myself short when one of the noblemen pulled his horse up next to us. Or rather he tried to—as soon as he got close the horse pulled away, prancing nervously from foot to foot. I couldn't quite repress a grin and the whites of its eyes began to show as its eyes rolled wildly in its head. Animals could never stand to be anywhere near me. It was like they could sense that my existence was unnatural.

"Bloody beast," the nobleman muttered as he pulled sharply on the reigns. "Well, shinobi-san? What is the hold up?" I frowned up at him, thinking that he looked familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen him before. Maybe he was famous or something.

Hatake-sensei bowed his head slightly and then turned to me. "You will be riding in the back of the first wagon with the client. Do not leave his side for any reason, do you understand me?" When I nodded he continued, "Your primary objective is to protect him. If we're attacked, don't engage the enemy; just get him out of the area immediately."

Standing straight I replied with a "Yes sir," and then made my way into the caravan. The back of the first wagon was covered by a thick, but rather soft covering. It reminded me of the tiger who was still underneath that deck. I'd been feeding it on and off for the past few weeks, stealing meat when I could (I sure as hell didn't have the money to actually _pay_ for it). Despite the time and money I'd been putting into it, the summon animal had hardly said another word to me other a quiet "Thank you" once and hardly looked any better than when I'd first found it.

It took my eyes a second to adjust to the dimness of the inside of the wagon. There were electrical lights lining the thick, dark wooden walls and it was larger than I expected—Hatake-sensei probably could have stood up inside with only minimal stooping. At the front of the wagon, sitting on a bench that was lined with dark velvet, was a young nobleman just a handful of years older than me. I stared at him for a moment, something about his appearance tickling at the back of my mind. Had I pick-pocketed him before?

"You're—" I realized with a start. The teenager smiled sheepishly. "…Takauji Akihito." I'd delivered a letter to him for my first mission. But if he was the client then that meant…

Oh_ fuck._ I was supposed to protect the daimyo's nephew? If anything happened to him I'd be lucky not to be carted off to the capital and publicly executed! Or could the daimyo do that? Hell if I knew where his power ended and the Hokage's began. Either way this was very Not Good.

"My apologies for the surprise," Takauji said, blissfully unaware of my predicament. "I would have warned you, but I had no way of contacting you."

"That's…" For the first time in a long while, I found myself speechless. All I could think was that when I failed they were going to try to decapitate me and then they'd all find out that I couldn't die and then they'd lock me up and—

Takauji gestured to the bench across from him. Between them was a table that was bolted to the floor. "Please, take a seat," he said.

Of course just at that moment the wagon jerked forward and I had to instinctively use my chakra to stick to the floorboards so that I didn't go toppling backward. I'd never been in a wagon or other moving vehicle before—it was a distinctly odd and unsettling feeling, knowing that I was moving without actually moving. I sat down heavily in the chair, still using chakra to stick to it out of fear that I'd fall out.

A silence fell between us as the caravan moved along. Takauji, dressed in his unwrinkled, expensive-looking yukata, looked distinctly hot and uncomfortable in the stuffy wagon, but he didn't complain. Conversely, sitting there in my dirt-stained orange and black shinobi outfit and being surrounded by opulence made me feel just as poor as I was.

"I need your help," Takauji suddenly blurted out.

"Huh?" was all I could think to say.

He reddened faintly, but looked determined. Takauji said, "I requested you for this mission because I need your help with something. You are the only shinobi I have met in the Hidden Leaf Village and thereby one of the only people who I know for sure does not answer to my guardian."

Oh god, Hatake-sensei was right about the politics thing. What was Takauji going to ask, if I could assassinate his guardian?

When I didn't reply immediately Takauji hesitated, but looked undeterred. He fumbled while taking out a folded piece of paper from within his yukata, then spread it out across the table between us. It turned out to be a detailed map of Fire Country

Takauji tapped a road on it that ran north from Hidden Leaf Village and said, "This is the route we're taking." He drew his finger up along it, tracing it to a star on the map that was labeled Keishi—Fire Country's capital city, and the home of the daimyo's seat of power. Takauji paid little attention to it however, and instead pointed to a spot on the map that was probably a few days travel south of the city, not too far from the road we would be taking.

"And that would be…?" I prompted.

The young nobleman flashed me an excited smile. "I have on good authority that that is an area where some new ruins have been discovered. They have been dated as being several hundred years old, back to before the beginning of the shinobi era," he said, nearly breathless. "It is private land, so almost no one has looked into it yet. Can you just imagine it? There could be buildings there that have stood untouched for centuries, just waiting to be uncovered!"

Buildings? I thought, bewildered. This was about some old buildings? "And what does this have to do with me?" I asked cautiously.

"My guardian would never let me go exploring like that. He would rather I remain locked up in a wing of the Lotus Palace instead, so if I asked one of the guards to go with me he would react…adversely. I am not foolish enough to try to go on my own either, so that leaves the only option of hiring an outside guard to go with me," Takauji said.

I leaned back in my seat and appraised Takauji thoughtfully. While a very large part of me was still thinking 'This is not going to end well,' I couldn't deny my own curiosity. And the mere thought of all the money I could get if Takauji continued to hire me for missions made me drool. I might actually be able to afford soundproofing for my ceiling and get a good night's sleep in my own bed for once!

"So what exactly do you want me to do?" I asked.

Takauji's shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly. I probably wouldn't have noticed had I not spent years reading body language; it was the best way to tell if a shopkeeper was on to me and was about to throw me out or if the person I was about to target for a prank was already aware of my presence.

"I just need you to come with me," the teenager said. "On the fourth day of the trip we will be stopping for the night near to where the ruins were found. After we have settled in for the night you will help me sneak away from camp. We will look around a bit, then come back."

It sounded simple enough to me, but Takauji's eyes were gleaming with excitement, as though it was going to be a grand adventure. I supposed he'd never been outside his gilded cage before. Living like that would drive me insane; what was life without the occasional paint prank or death-defying fall?

I nodded slowly and tried to pretend that the blinding smile Takauji sent me wasn't infectious. He started chatting on about older civilizations, history, buildings and other things that I didn't have the first clue about. He rather reminded me of an overly-enthusiastic chipmunk.

When he'd exhausted himself at last, Takauji stood up—somehow managing to keep his balance on the moving wagon without chakra—and went over to one of the chests that was in the very front of the wagon. He pulled out a polished wooden board and a box, and then set them down on the table.

"Would you like to play _shogi_?" he asked eagerly. "It'll be a great way to pass the time."

"Er, I don't really know how to play…" I'd seen it played before, but I'd never paid much attention to board games, even as a kid. They were just those expensive-and-too-bulky-to-shoplift things that other kids had.

Takauji only looked all the more excited. "I can teach you then!"

I watched curiously as he set up the board with smooth marble pieces that had _kanji_ characters carved into their surface and began to explain the rules. Part of it went over my head at first, but I figured it was kind of like a spar in that you had a certain set of skills to use against your opponent. The wagon rolled on as we began to play. I could hear faint voices outside and the clop of the horses' hooves, accented by the occasional clink from the _shogi_ pieces.

o-O-o

-11:30 PM, February 10th, 312 TE-

-Roadside Camp, Midway between Hidden Leaf Village and Keishi-

When someone tapped me on the shoulder in the middle of the night, I was instantly awake and on my feet, throwing off the person who had awakened me. It took me a brief second to see Akihito's faded outline toppling backward, then another second to grab his collar and haul him back to his feet.

"What the f—" I managed to say before Takauji shushed me.

"The guards are just sitting around the fire now," he whispered urgently. "Do you know where the other shinobi is?"

"Hatake-sensei?" I mumbled.

Pushing back the curtain on the back of the wagon just enough to see outside, I cast an eye around the camp that had been made between the two wagons and saw a sea of sleeping bags and snoring samurai. After a second I caught a flash of silver hair and when I turned my head I found him sitting up against the other wagon with Takauji's guardian—Sazaki, I think his name was—next to him.

I pulled back into the wagon and said, "I think I have an idea. Just start walking into the woods and don't look back; I'll be right behind you. And try not to look like you're sneaking away to do nefarious things, yeah?"

Takauji stifled a laugh and nodded. With surprising calmness he stepped out the back of the wagon and turned to walk into the woods. As I followed him I saw that while none of the samurai had noticed, Hatake-sensei turned his head to us. _Bathroom_, I mouthed to him, and he nodded and looked away. As I quickly followed Takauji into the darkness, I felt a twinge of guilt that I mercilessly squashed beneath years of bitterness and persecution. I needed money to survive, and to get money I would do what I had to—and right now that meant helping the daimyo's nephew have his little adventure.

As we left the light of the campfire, I was surprised to see how quickly and silently Takauji moved. I wondered if he had much experience sneaking around. Maybe he was really an enemy shinobi in disguise and I was a part of a large conspiracy plot to assassinate the daimyo? The thought nearly made me laugh aloud; quiet or not, Takauji wouldn't have the first clue of what to do with a kunai.

Suddenly, I noticed that we weren't just meandering through the woods, but actually following a faint path. Takauji stopped abruptly and crouched down and brushed his fingers across a stone. With a start I realized that it was square in shape, and clearly man-made. As we continued along, the stones became more frequent. I quickly realized that this path must have once been paved, but was now mostly worn away or buried. It must have been very old, older even than the dried up, green hunk of food in the back of one of my cabinets, which I was sure had been there for a few centuries at least.

I was aware that pre-shinobi era ruins were occasionally found in Fire Country, but it wasn't something I'd ever paid much attention to. Old buildings, even ones that were said to be more than hundreds of years old, just didn't concern me—how could they help me on my path to becoming a stronger shinobi? But thinking that there were non-food items out there that were hundreds of years older than me… It was a bit intimidating to realize that the world was so much bigger than me. In the Academy we were taught almost solely about the history of Hidden Leaf Village. I didn't even know how the pre-shinobi era civilizations had fallen.

Takauji took another step forward and then suddenly the ground gave way beneath him and he was gone.

For a moment I froze, staring at the empty path. Then my heart began to jump around in my chest like a cat trapped in a paper bag and I scrambled forward to the edge of the hole where the earth had fallen in beneath Takauji's weight. Dirt continued to fall loose and drop into the hole, but the ground held strong beneath my feet.

"Shit!" I swore aloud. "Takauji? Can you hear me?"

A groan sounded from below, closer than I expected. "I'm fine," he said. "The ground is pretty soft. Just a second." I could hear the shifting of cloth as he fumbled for something, and then suddenly the light from a flashlight was shining on my face. Akihito cast it around and I could see that he was only just over fifteen feet below me. "Come down here!" he said, suddenly excited again as he ran out of view. "There's a tunnel!"

I _knew_ there was no way for this not to end in disaster. I growled at my own stupidity for going along with something like this; all the money in the world wasn't worth the possibility of getting arrested for killing the daimyo's nephew. And now the only way to get that fool out of there was to go down into a half collapsed tunnel myself?

Standing on the edge of the hole with my heart still pounding wildly in my chest, I could think of nothing other than how the tunnel would collapse on my head and I'd be buried eternally in the earth, breathing in dirt and unable to move. I didn't even like going into basements, and now I had to go _down there?_

I took a deep breath of air and closed my eyes tightly. I was a shinobi, dammit. I had trampled over all shinobi, civilians, and stingy store owners trying to get in my way, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let some goddamned _tunnel_ stop me. With my eyes still screwed closed I braced my legs and jumped down into the hole. As Takauji had said, the ground was soft and slightly springy.

One at a time I slowly opened my eyes. The tunnel stretched forward in front of me, and my breath caught in my throat at the sight. It was like a giant maw opening up before me, ready to swallow me whole. I tried to focus solely on the light of Takauji's flashlight further in the distance and quickly made my way toward him. I placed a hand on his shoulder, more than ready to drag both of us out there as fast as possible.

Before I could say a word however, Takauji pointed toward the wall of the tunnel and said, "There's something metal in it."

I frowned, but did see the piece of silver metal that was shimmering through the dirt. With a sigh, I began to brush away the dirt around it, hoping that whatever it was would satisfy Akihito's inquisitiveness. More dirt fell away, but it only revealed more metal, flat beneath my hand. My frown deepened and I took out a kunai, using it to scrape away more dirt—and reveal more metal.

"It's a wall," Takauji said suddenly. "Look." He flashed the light across the circumference of the tunnel and I realized with a start that it was unnaturally square. Even the ceiling looked flat, despite the dirt hanging from it.

"You think it's made of metal?" I asked as I crossed over to the other wall. I scrapped at it as well, and found metal beneath the dirt again. I tried the same with the ground, but found only dirt even when I shoved my kunai in up to the hilt.

Takauji looked around thoughtfully. "So it would seem. But why cover the metal up with dirt?" He started walking forward again.

Further into the tunnel? Really? I closed my eyes again briefly. I just wanted to get out of there, not find out why there was a square, metal, dirt-covered tunnel built underground.

A surprised cry rang out through the tunnel and my eyes instantly shot open. In half a second I crossed the distance between Takauji and I and reached out to grab him—

I stopped short when I saw that Takauji was standing, unharmed, in front of a clean metal wall that was apparently the end of the tunnel. There was a tall door set into it with some sort of a metal wheel attached. The metal was worn and covered in rust, but Akihito was staring at it with awe.

"The hell?" I muttered.

Dashing forward, Takauji grabbed the wheel and tried to turn it. It squeaked and moved just a fraction an inch while he grunted with the effort, awkwardly trying to hold the flashlight at the same time. A moment later he stopped and turned to me, an embarrassed flush on his face.

"Er, would you mind...?"

I sighed, but nodded and moved forward to take his place. The wheel was definitely stuck, and it took me digging my heels into the ground, channeling chakra into my hands to get a good grip, and pulling with all my effort to get it to haltingly turn, then abruptly it loosened completely and started turning with ease, nearly making me stumble. Suddenly the wheel stopped and a rather ominous heavy click echoed through the tunnel.

o-O-o

_shogi_ – Japanese chess  
_kanji_ – adopted Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system

A/N: Nothing much to say about this one. I'm adding an appendix of sorts to my profile page though, listing terms and their definitions that are unique to this story (like Keishi being the capital or Utatane being Tenten's family name). So if in later chapters you come across something you don't recognize/remember, just check there.

Happy reading!

—S.R.

_A life without adventure is likely to be unsatisfying, but a life in which adventure is allowed to take whatever form it will is sure to be short.  
_-Bertrand Russell


	7. Interlude II: Uchiha Sasuke

Posted: May 28, 2012  
Last Updated: May 28, 2012  
Chapter WC: 987  
Story WC: 23,184

* * *

Worth Dying For

Interlude II  
_Uchiha Sasuke_

* * *

-6:00 AM, February 10th, 312 TE-

-Sasuke's Apartment-

Fact: Uchiha Sasuke could not stand messes. He liked things to be neat and organized. He liked things to be well within his control. He did not like surprises or changes or even having something disturb him while he was concentrating.

Sasuke wanted his life to fit into a neat little box, and he hated it when it was not, so he went out of his way to categorize everything that he could.

Fact: Uchiha Itachi massacred the Uchiha clan.

Solution: Uchiha Sasuke would kill Uchiha Itachi.

Fact: Uchiha Sasuke was the last of the Uchiha Clan.

Solution: Uchiha Sasuke would repopulate the Uchiha Clan.

He was not sure on the specifics of the last one yet. He figured he would get there once Itachi was gone.

As he thought, Sasuke scrubbed his breakfast dishes. Washing away the soap, he held the plate up to the light, frowned, then scrubbed some more. At last he placed the dish in the rack. He frowned and rotated it slightly to the left. He hung the towel on the rack over the oven and then smoothed it out. He picked up the towel, shook it out, and hung it back up. He then picked it up again and repeated the process.

Sasuke checked his clothes one last time before heading to the door at 6:25. He patted down his pockets, mentally taking stock of his equipment. Twenty shuriken and two coils of wire in his leg pouch. Five kunai in his left pocket, six kunai in his the right. He took out one of them and set it down on his desk. Five kunai in his left pocket, five kunai in his right. Sasuke looked back down at the table, made sure the tip of the kunai was facing down precisely, and frowned.

Fact: There was dust on the table.

Solution: Get out the dust cloth and clean it.

At 6:33, when he was finally satisfied, Sasuke left and locked the door behind him. As he left the apartment and headed toward the Academy, he stared stoically ahead, ignoring the stares he garnered as he walked. He had found over the years that anyone who recognized him displayed one of two reactions: either a look saying "Oh that poor boy" or a look of wary suspicion, like he was a caged, bloodthirsty beast that would turn on them at any moment. Sasuke's hands tightened into fists.

Fact: Uchiha Sasuke was not the same person as his brother.

Solution: Uchiha Sasuke would kill Uchiha Itachi.

Sasuke arrived at the Academy at exactly 7:04, as he did every day. He made his way into the classroom and sat down at 7:07 and by 7:10 was sitting with his notebook placed before him exactly in the center of the desk. He straightened the pencil next to it so that it was two centimeters away and perfectly parallel.

At approximately 7:26 The Fangirls came running into the room, screaming at the top of their lungs and jarring Sasuke away from where he had been staring at the blackboard, counting the pieces of chalk and resisting the urge to walk up to it and clean it with a wet towel. He could _see_ the chalk residue from yesterday's lesson and it bothered him, but he had long since learned to express restraint when it came to other people's messes—and doing so truly did take a lot of self control. If there was one thing Sasuke prided himself on, it was control.

Fact: The Fangirls were loud, obnoxious, and completely useless.

Solution: Ignore their existence.

Sasuke stared staunchly ahead. He did his best to pretend that there were not banshees clamoring around him, screeching in his ears and probably doing their best to burst his eardrums. He clenched his teeth and glared at the wall. He could not wait until he was out of there. Away from the stupid little girls. Away from the teachers who either sneered behind his back and taught him as little as they could, or praised him for anything he did and silently bumped up his grade. Away from the annoying, repetitive lessons that he had mastered months ago.

Once he was an actual shinobi, Sasuke would be well on his way to taking revenge for his clan.

One of the girls next to him tried to talk to him. Sasuke ignored her. He had no desire to talk to his classmates. The only one who had actually tried hard to become a shinobi was that blond boy—Uzukami, he thought it was—and even he had dropped out, probably because he could not use any jutsu. None of these people were worth his time. They would just hold him back.

He did not like conversations anyway. People and their emotions were an unknown variable, something he had no control over. He would not have the first clue about how to respond. He could not even remember the last time he had actually held a conversation with someone. It was probably before his clan died. He point blank refused to talk to the therapist they kept trying to send him to. Telling someone how he felt was nothing but a weakness that could be used against him. That therapist could easily tell others his thoughts, or sell the information to an enemy.

Fact: Uchiha Sasuke trusted no one.

Solution: Uchiha Sasuke talked to no one.

And if he was lonely, well that did not matter. His life was dedicated to those who had died—his family. He did not care what others thought of him, or if they thought he was a security risk. He had his goals, and he would do anything to accomplish them. If that meant training on his own until his hands bled and he puked from overexertion, so be it.

Fact: Uchiha Sasuke would kill Uchiha Itachi.

o-O-o

A/N: Sasuke will be a very important character in this story, and also a bit different from in canon, as you can see here. The main divergence in his personality is a result from his mild OCD, though that will snowball into larger changes later on.

Happy reading!

-S.R.

_In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.  
_-Sir Francis Bacon


	8. Chapter 5: Keishi

Posted: May 31, 2012  
Last Updated: May 31, 2012  
Chapter WC: 4,547  
Story WC: 27,731

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 5  
_Keishi_

* * *

-12:00 AM, February 11th, 312 TE-

-Unknown Underground Location, Midway between Hidden Leaf Village and Keishi-

The door started to open on its own. I warily stepped backward to stand alongside Takauji, slipping another kunai into one hand and palming a couple of shuriken in the other. Nothing jumped out at us, as I'd half expected, but a wave of sickeningly sweet, sterile-smelling air hit us like a wave. It reminded me instantly of the air inside the hospital—I'd never actually been there as a patient, but I'd snuck in a few times to get bed sheets and pillows; they had so many that they'd never miss them. Takauji gagged at the concentrated smell while I wrinkled my nose, but thankfully its strength faded pretty quickly.

A mechanical buzzing sounded above us and then one by one a series of long tub-like lights began to turn on inside the vault. The light revealed a clean corridor with a white tiled floor and the same smooth metal walls as were in the tunnel that, sans dirt. It bisected at a T-junction about twenty feet ahead and continued out of sight.

Takauji breathed out sharply, a look of awe lighting up his face. "It's clean," he commented in wonder as he leaned forward. "No dirt or dust. And the air should be stale after being locked up so tightly for a long period of time. There must be some kind of air recycling system and a generator for the electricity…"

"What is this, some kind of super secret underground lab? Are freakin' zombies going to pop out and try to eat us alive?" I grumbled. Takauji shuddered. "Well as far as I know there aren't any Hidden Leaf Village bases in the area, but this couldn't have been sealed for very long—"

"I'm not so sure about that," he said. I made a small sound in the back of my throat as Takauji took a step into the corridor. Craning his neck back to look up at the lights, he continued, "I remember learning about those when my tutor taught me about how electricity works. They're florescent bulbs, which haven't been used in centuries now."

I wasn't even aware that electricity had been around for that long. Suddenly my Academy education seemed severely lacking. "We should go back," I said. "There really could be zombies or some type of enemy in there."

"And look at these hinges!" Takauji continued obliviously, pointing to something behind the door and not hearing my protests.

Heaving a sigh, I stepped into the corridor. The door itself was a behemoth—more than two feet thick, about 6 feet wide and 8 feet tall, and made of solid metal. What Takauji was pointing to were two weird metal arms that were holding the door open. I couldn't begin to guess how such tiny things had moved such a large door, and from the excited look on the nobleman's face, similar thoughts were running through his head.

"I have never seen anything like this in the basic engineering I was taught," he said as he ran a hand along the smooth metal. "Can you imagine the applications for something like this? It is more than just a pulley system—"

"I know this is 'utterly exciting' and all, but it's still extremely dangerous. Part of the tunnel has already collapsed, so who says the rest won't collapse around our heads as well? Seriously, let's go," I urged. I'd already been underground for longer than my nerves could stand and was staunchly ignoring how sweaty and shaky my hands were getting.

Takauji turned his pleading eyes on me. It was an odd sight, considering that he was almost a full foot taller than me. "Come on, we will just take a quick look, I promise. This is an incredible find and we have already come all this way. Would it not be disappointing if we came away empty handed?"

"It looks to me like you've already found more than enough to occupy you," I grumbled.

I glanced up at the lights again. Were they really something from a bygone era? Had this place been sealed for centuries? What if Takauji was right, and we'd discovered something that no one had stepped foot into in living memory? God, just the thought of the amount of money that could be made off something like that made me shiver with glee.

"Fine," I said at last. "We'll take a quick look around, but _just_ a quick look." And I would gladly prove that something as inconsequential as a tunnel had no power over me. I would be down here as long as _I_ wanted to be, without feeling like my chest was being squeezed by a giant hand.

I took another step into the vault. The bright lights helped chase away the feeling that the walls were closing in on me a bit. No traps sprung as I continued forward—and no zombies jumped out. When Takauji started to follow me however, I waved him back.

"Stay near the door for now, until I make sure it's clear," I ordered. "If it starts to close or anything happens, go back to Hatake Kakashi."

Takauji looked as though he wanted to protest, but ultimately he just nodded. "As soon as you say it is safe, I will follow," he agreed. As I turned back to the end of the hall, I saw him pull out a pad of paper and a pencil—where did he keep all this stuff anyway?—and sit down to begin sketching out the metal arms on the back of the door. I left him to it and continued my trek.

I paused at the T-junction. To my right was a regular pair of double doors, but the passage on the left ended about a dozen paces away at what looked like an elevator door. There was a panel on the wall next to it with some kind of screen that was covered in symbols I'd never seen before. I moved closer to it, frowning. I assumed it was a code of some kind—or maybe an older language? I'd have to ask Takauji when he took a look. Turning away from the elevator for the moment, I went down to the right wing of the hall and stopped in front of the double doors. They pushed open easily enough.

The room behind those doors… I didn't have the slightest clue what it was for. My first thought was that it was an office of some kind, because the floor was carpeted and there was a large desk against the far wall. In front of that desk, however, were about a dozen chairs that were arranged against the walls like it was a waiting room. The upper part of the wall to my right was covered in cabinets, and the wall to my left had only a single door set into it that had no obvious handle. Mounted next to it was another small device that had numbers on little squares, like a keypad.

Still frowning, I walked around the chairs and approached the desk. There were a couple small stacks of papers on it, and when I picked one up I found that they were covered in the same strange symbols as the screen next to the elevator. A quick sweep around the room revealed no traps or hidden exits.

With my head down, I left the room and headed back to the entrance where Takauji was just finishing up his sketch. It was surprisingly good and was covered in tiny notes and measurements. It reminded me of some of the technical drawings that had been in my Academy textbooks.

"All clear," I said after a moment.

Takauji was startled and dropped his pencil. "Oh, right," he said as he quickly jumped to his feet. "Did you find anything?"

"Not sure; you'll have to take a look."

We headed back to the office-like room and Takauji took a look around. He was fascinated by all of it, staring at the chairs and the papers and everything he could get his hands on like it was stuff he'd never seen before. While he began to dig through the drawers of the desk, I wandered over to the device next to the sealed the door. After a second of hesitation I pressed one of the numbers, then jumped and looked around wildly when it beeped. For a moment my heart pounded in my chest, but no one came running and no alarm sounded. I cautiously pressed another number and got the same electronic beep.

"It looks like some kind of electronic lock," Takauji said as he came up behind me.

"With numbers?" I replied, bewildered.

Takauji leaned closer and squinted at it. "It could be some kind of combination lock. It is actually rather ingenious, really, if it actually works. Most physical locks can be broken with the right amount of brute force. But this? We do not even have the first clue about how it works."

As he looked it over, I noticed that Takauji was holding something. "What's that?" I asked, pointing it out.

He grinned suddenly and held it up. It was thin and black, made of either metal or plastic; I couldn't tell. "I found it in one of the drawers.

"What the hell is that?" I questioned as I squinted at it.

"I...do not know."

Takauji flipped it around, looking at it from every angle. It was about the size of his hand and less than half an inch thick. One side of it was completely smooth like hard plastic while the other was made of a different, slightly rougher material. Takauji turned it around again, then suddenly yelped in surprise and dropped it when the smooth side lit up.

"Shit—" I reached for my weapon pouch, but just as quickly as he'd dropped it, Takauji snatched the thing up again, his face glowing with excitement.

"It is a screen!" he said. "Look!"

I cautiously edged forward. "It's tiny. How could that be a screen? And for what?" But I could see what Takauji meant: there were..._things_ visible on it now. Shapes and colors and more of that odd writing—but still nothing that I could make heads or tails of. I was starting to get really annoyed with being confused all the time.

Takauji pressed the...screen again, and the images on it shifted and changed. He continued pressing things, his excitement growing with each passing second.

"What does it do?" I asked dubiously.

"I have no idea," he repeated cheerfully. "But it is incredible! Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

"I can't say I have," I answered dryly. "But I still say we need to go. We have to get back before anyone notices you're missing, you know."

Takauji wilted under my words like a kid who'd just had their toy taken away, and indeed, he held the weird screen-thingy tighter as though he feared that I'd take it away.

"...Fine," he said after a second. "But let me finish looking around this desk first. And we have to come back here when we have a chance."

"Yeah," I agreed as I took another look around the room. My gaze momentarily drifted toward the elevator at the other end of the hall, wondering where it led. Just how deep did these tunnels go?

After a little more urging—or rather grabbing the back of Takauji's collar and dragging him away from the room—we finally left the sterile corridors. I paused for a moment at the massive door that led to the dirt-covered tunnels. The hairs on my arms stood on end as I ran a finger down the side of the doorway, noting the small, dark rings that went down it. They were about an inch and a half across, with a foot of vertical space between each one.

"Uzumaki-san?" Takauji questioned, glancing back at me.

"I can feel chakra coming from these…things," I said, surprise coloring my voice. "I think the door is locked with chakra. But something like that would need a constant chakra source…" I glanced back into the corridor as I spoke and felt a shiver run down my spine that had absolutely nothing to do with my reaction to enclosed spaces.

o-O-o

-4:00 PM, February 13th, 312 TE-

-Outside Keishi-

It took another two days to reach the capital. Takauji and I spent most of that time in his wagon, discussing what we'd found. Well, he spent most of his time excitedly throw out theories and exploring the device he'd found while I listened and nodded at the right intervals. Don't get wrong, I found the entire thing fascinating too, but it was a bit hard to follow when Takauji went off on a fast-paced rant about engineering and the ramifications of new discoveries.

"Please don't tell anyone about this yet," Takauji begged me. "If word gets out now, the Historical Society will take over completely and we will probably never get another glimpse of it. I know you are supposed to report everything to your commanders, but… Please?"

It was distinctly odd to see a pleading expression on a nobleman's face, even a teenage nobleman. I'd always pictured nobles as being cold and snobbish, not like…this.

"This doesn't affect the mission, so I don't strictly need to mention it…" I said slowly. Hatake-sensei already suspected something, I was sure, but I could deal with him when he finally approached me about it.

"Thank you," Takauji said, heaving a sigh of relief.

Just then the wagon rolled to a stop. Takauji quickly hurried to the back of the wagon and peeked out the curtain. He said something that I couldn't quite make out to one of the samurai guards, and then drew back inside.

"We have arrived at the gates. Would you like to take a look? I have heard that it is an inspiring sight to those who have never seen Keishi before," Takauji said.

"Why not." I shrugged. They couldn't be any more ridiculous than Hidden Leaf Village's walls.

I followed Takauji out of the wagon. The caravan had stopped outside of the city and was being checked over by a couple of guards. I eyed them for a moment before turning to the city.

My breath caught in my throat for a moment. Never mind Hidden Leaf Village's walls; these made Hidden Leaf Village look like a city made of sticks. Keishi's walls were built from stone towers that loomed a dozens of stories high into the sky like a giant's fingers. The roofing of the towers was made shingles and I could faintly make out figures patrolling the tops of the walls, but the height itself wasn't what caught my eye. What made me gape openly were the paintings that covered every visible inch of the city's walls. It was a dizzying array of dragons and phoenixes and tigers and every other manner of fantastic beast, running to and fro and spelling out legends. There was an army marching toward a river beneath one tower and a samurai presenting a ruler with his sword on another. Further along I could see a story about a princess flying on the back of a large raven over the image of a city much like Keishi.

The paint was old. That much I could instantly tell, even from this distance. It was cracked in several places and fading here and there, but the color still shone strong. I couldn't even begin to comprehend how long it must have taken to paint such a mural; the wall itself was hundreds of feet tall, taller even than Hidden Leaf Village's walls, and the city of Keishi was massive, home to several million people. The wall must be miles and miles long. Was it painted for its entire length, or just around the gates?

I opened my mouth and turned to Takauji to ask him, but he had moved over to his guardian and was discussing something with a guard. I shook my head slowly and stared back up at the gates. I was beginning to feel as though I was in another world when outside of Hidden Leaf Village. Nothing was how I expected it to be—everything was larger, grander, and older. Slowly pivoting on one foot I turned away from the mountainous walls and told myself that my heart was racing from excitement, not fear of this new, unknown world.

o-O-o

-5:00 PM, February 13th, 312 TE-

-Minami-ku, Keishi-

Keishi had not always been a mighty city, nor even the capital of Fire Country. Once, long ago during the Saichuu Era, it was not but a small fishing village built along the Okagawa River. With time, its prime location allowed it to flourish into a trading town, and then into a merchant's haven. By the beginning of the Tsuyoi Era, known popularly as the Shinobi Era, it was the largest city in Fire Country, home to over a million souls with hundreds of boats and thousands of traders passing through every day.

When the Takauji Daimyo rose to power in the Tsuyoi Era, he moved the capital from Yasuragi to his home city of Keishi. Over the next two centuries the city continued to flourish and expand, becoming famed across the Elemental Countries as not only the most expansive trading port in the world, but also a cultural center for art, architecture, and religion. More than 1,000 temples called Keishi their home and the Lotus Palace and its 20 square mile garden was considered a piece of art unto itself. Today Keishi boasted a population of 2.3 million citizens, second only to the city of Yamashi in Lightning Country, and stretched across both sides of the Okagawa River, covering more than 250 square miles of land.

Or so Takauji Akihito told me.

Frankly, my mind was spinning purely from the idea that there were two million people walking around me. Hidden Leaf Village, which I had always thought was a very large city, had barely a quarter of that population.

We'd apparently split from the wagons in favor of riding horses, and I could see why now—the streets were filled with throngs of people, like a sea of colors and faces. Even with the samurai contingency around us making way, we were moving at a snail's pace. It also bears mention that the horse beneath me was about ready to have a heart attack from fear, and I wasn't far behind it. I'd never ridden on a horse or any sort of animal before, and it had taken more than just a little urging from Takauji and teasing from Hatake-sensei before I'd dared to mount one. My hands were still clutching the pommel almost tightly enough to tear it off; I was sure that I was going to slide off at any moment or that the wild beast beneath me would bolt.

"Keishi is split into five districts," Takauji eagerly explained as we rode through the city.

With a wave of his hand, he gestured to the buildings around us. They towered high over our heads, taller by far than the Hokage Tower or any other structure I'd ever seen. I felt dwarfed in their midst, and even the brightly colored sheets and clothing hanging from laundry lines over our heads couldn't detract from the suspicion that they were really a giant's fingers reaching down to scoop me up.

"This is Minami-ku, the southern district," Takauji continued. "We are heading toward Chuo-ku, the central district, where the Lotus Palace—my uncle's home—is and where most other nobles reside. The other districts are Kita-ku, the northern district; Nishi-ku, the western district, and Higashi-ku, the eastern district. Because the Okagawa River passes through Higashi-ku, it is well known for its docks and merchant quarter."

A history lesson and a guided tour—_just_ what I wanted. Now I could die happy, knowing that rich, fat merchants had a home to call their own. Not that I could deny that Keishi was awe-inspiring. It was just more than a little overwhelming to a shinobi; an assassination attempt could come from any angle in this crowd, with no way to predict or prevent it.

We turned a street corner and suddenly I could see a massive, two story tall red _Torii_ up ahead, marking the entrance to a temple. There were trees beyond it, hiding anything past the long stone steps leading upward, but what was really amazing was the massive stone statue, easily five or six hundred feet tall, that was thrust up above the treetops. It was worn green with time, but the features of a bearded man were still clearly defined.

"The Great Izanagi Statue," Takauji said with a smile. "One of Keishi's most recognizable landmarks, other than the Wall itself."

"That must have taken a while to make," I commented faintly. I wondered if someone had used a jutsu to help craft it.

We passed a lot of other temples, statues, and murals as we continued on into the heart of the city. Eventually we reached the tall white wall that separated Chuo-ku, the central district, from the others. A swift glance told me that it was patrolled at intervals by heavily armed guards.

Once we were in the central district we passed dozens upon dozens of lavish manors and castles, each with acres of gardens and well-tended land around them. It would be easy to forget we were still in the middle of a city, were it not for the massive buildings still towering around us in the distance. For better or for worse, it wasn't the Lotus Palace that we stopped at. A part of me was burning with curiosity, wanting to know what such an exalted building looked like after all the treasures I'd already seen today, but I was also pretty sure that I'd vomit if I saw anymore wealth that was out of my reach. It was frustrating enough passing by so much without being able to get my hands on anything. Some of the merchandise I'd seen today would sell for really high prices in Hidden Leaf Village.

It turned out that Takauji lived in a small castle anyway. The complex was big enough to fit the entire Hyuuga compound three times over, and probably the size of a small town. Despite how 'normal' I'd found Takauji to be, he fit in easily with the opulence, looking relaxed and at home—which I supposed was exactly what he was.

As we stood in the courtyard that my entire apartment complex could have fit in, a servant came and helped me get down from the horse that by some miracle hadn't died or bucked me off yet. Teeth bared, I shook off the man's hands and jumped down myself. The horse immediately tried to prance away from me, and it took several other servants to calm it down.

"You and your sensei are welcome to stay if you would like to," Takauji told me. He looked excited and part of me wondered if he'd ever had someone close to his age over before.

"I'm afraid we must return as quickly as possible," Hatake-sensei replied, suddenly behind me.

Takauji hesitated, then nodded. "I understand," he said. He bowed, and I felt more than saw Hatake-sensei tense in surprise. "I wish you a safe journey back, shinobi-san. I thank you for your assistance."

I awkwardly returned a similar bow. "Er, yeah, you too."

Once Hatake-sensei had exchanged pleasantries with Sazaki, we finally left the complex—this time mercifully on foot.

"We'll stop to get something to eat and then head straight back to Hidden Leaf Village," Hatake-sensei said. "With your current speed and endurance, we should be able to make it home in little over a day. And along the way you can tell me all about your little adventure in the woods with our client."

I winced at that. Of course Hatake-sensei had noticed how long we were gone for—he always noticed everything. "He's fine, as you saw," I protested. "He just asked to go for a walk and get away from the camp, and you told me to never leave his side during the mission, so I didn't! It's not like we were attacked and you even said there was probably no danger for the mission."

"And if there had been bandits in the woods?"

"Then I'd kick their asses! I can handle civilians any day of the week," I retorted with a wide grin.

"Such a hardheaded student you've got there, Kakashi-kun," a woman's voice said behind us. "Funny, I never pictured you as the sensei type."

I spun around as fast as I could, a kunai practically leaping into my hand as my heart pounded in my chest. I hadn't heard anyone sneak up on us! Hatake-sensei, however, wasn't the slightest bit alarmed. He casually turned, presenting the person behind us with his profile as he cocked his head in an arrogant sort of way.

"Tōu-chan," he greeted her nonchalantly.

'Tōu' was a kunoichi in her late twenties with short purple hair. She was wearing a sleeveless black shinobi jumpsuit, with straw _waraji_ sandals on her feet and bandages on her forearms. Around her waist was a bandanna-like piece of cloth that had a circle on it, within which was the character for fire.

It was easy to tell that Hatake-sensei was staring at that symbol more than the woman herself. "I was under the impression that you had left the Guardians," he said.

The woman flicked some of her hair out of her eyes. "Then your intel is just as poor as I assumed," she said with a mocking sneer and a dark fire in her eyes. "Speaking of which, how is Asuma-kun?"

"He's doing well. I believe he's thinking of taking up a Genin team of his own," he answered shortly. Tōu scoffed and then turned her gaze on me. Hatake-sensei placed his hand on my shoulder and I nearly flinched because even if he was acting casual, it felt like he was about to rip my shoulder off. "This is Uzumaki Naruto, my Genin."

She stared at me, assumingly recognizing my name, and I managed to retain my decorum for all of two seconds before I snapped, "What? Are you waiting for me to sprout fangs and go for your jugular? Because I guarantee we'll be standing here all night if that's the case, and I'm damn hungry."

Tōu released a short, bark-like laugh.

"Well he's got fire, I'll give you that much," she said. "You might want to keep him on a shorter leash though; his presence is already stirring up all sorts of…unwanted interest."

While I was left blinking in confusion and wondering what the hell that was supposed to mean, Hatake-sensei hummed noncommittally. "I'll keep your warning in mind," he replied, though his blasé tone said the opposite. "If there's nothing else...?"

Tōu sneered again. With a quiet crack that almost sounded like a strike of lightning, she disappeared.

"Time to go, Naruto-kun," Hatake-sensei said.

o-O-o

_Saichuu Era_ - Middle Era_  
Tsuyoi Era_ - Mighty Era_  
Torii_ - a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine.  
_waraji_ - sandals made from straw rope

A/N: Keishi was interesting to write about, and you can be sure that this won't be the last you'll see of it. And in case it wasn't obvious, the "TE" that I use for the year dates stands for Tsuyoi Era, ie the Shinobi Era. Tōu is a character who shows up the anime only, though in canon she died during the coup again the daimyo. Why she's still alive (and therefore how things are different from canon) will be explained at a later time.

On a more important note, this month (June) I will be participating in the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge, so expect updates to slow down to once a week at the most.

Happy reading!

—S.R.

_Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future._  
-Charles F. Kettering


	9. Chapter 6: Warning

Posted: June 6, 2012  
Last Updated: June 6, 2012  
Chapter WC: 7,227  
Story WC: 34,958

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 6  
_Warning_

* * *

-3:00 PM, February 15th, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Central District-

I'd barely been back in Hidden Leaf Village for an hour when I heard a shout of "Naruto-san!" coming from behind me. A second later a green blur dashed past me, skidded to a stop, and then jogged back to me.

"Lee?"

"Hello Naruto-san!" the taller boy said with a wide grin. Abruptly, I realized that he had grown even taller since I'd last seen him about a month ago, and I only just came up to his chin. Why the hell was everybody getting taller than me? "I have been looking for you!"

"As much as I love to hang around waiting for Hyuuga to come by, I was out of the village on a mission," I said.

Lee's grin never faltered; if anything, it widened at my dig against his rival. "I just thought you might want to know that the last joint mission we went on has been voided! The client was declared to be of an unsound mind."

Huh, so that tiger actually drove someone insane? I had to admit that that far outstripped the result of any of my pranks.

Lee was still standing there watching me expectantly, waiting for a response. What did he want, congratulations for telling me? I sure as hell wasn't going to say 'thank you.' Although… My blood was still pumping from the run back to Hidden Leaf Village and Lee _was_ a budding Taijutsu master…

"Do you wanna spar?" I asked.

With eyes the size of saucers, Lee stared at me. I thought he looked kind of like the mouse I occasionally found in my apartment that generally stared at me with much the same expression. I had yet to figure out how it avoided all my traps, but considering the integrity—or lack thereof—of some of my walls, it wasn't too surprising.

Without any warning, Lee lunged forward and hugged me tightly enough that for a second I thought he was trying to tear me in half and a couple of my ribs really _did_ crack. He lifted me completely off the ground and then a moment later dropped me while laughing boisterously. I coughed and spluttered as the internal bleeding quickly stopped. When Lee tried to slap me on the shoulder I swiftly dodge before he could unintentionally cause any more damage.

"We shall head to the fields and test our Flames of Youth!" Lee shouted, pumping one fist in the air and no doubt imitating his sensei. He then latched onto my arm and dragged me down the street while loudly chattering on about something. What, I wasn't sure because my ears were ringing from being jerked around so much.

As we walked, however, I did notice one glaring detail: The civilians were staring at Lee, not me. Obviously I was well aware that Lee was weird and probably drew stares wherever he went, but… Generally when I was walking down the street, I could feel dozens of eyes on me, but not actually see anyone staring. I could feel the attention and see the subtle cold shoulders as people turned their backs or looked away, refusing to look me in the eye and acknowledge that I was there.

But Lee? People didn't even notice that I was there with him. They were all staring at him in open shock and fascination. It was like he was a human buffer between me and them.

A smile spread across my face. Lee was weird alright. Really, really weird. But suddenly I _liked_ weird. Plus, I bet that some of the double-takes and just-bit-into-a-lemon looks that people were giving us would never get old.

Maybe sparring with him now and again wouldn't be so bad.

o-O-o

-7:30 PM, February 15th, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village's Southern Quarter-

As I'd expected, the tiger was still lying under the deck of the crazy civilian's house. He looked a fair deal worse than when I'd last seen him, as though a clearly suicidal painter had started fading out his stripes. Or at least they looked faded to me; it was a bit hard to tell in the darkness.

"You should probably see a vet or something," was the first thing I said when I saw him. "Couldn't a vet help you, even though you're a summon?"

The tiger didn't open his eyes, but from the way his tail twitched I could tell he was awake. After a second he lifted his head slightly, though he kept his eyes shut. "…I didn't think you'd be coming back," he said in a voice that was more of a low growl in the back of his throat than anything else. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you return? You gain nothing from helping me."

I snorted. "Of course I gain something from helping you. I'm not a charity worker. But you're a tiger summon and getting on your good side could be in my favor."

The tiger snorted as well. "Move," he said.

"Wha—?"

"Move aside," he said again, this time more firmly.

I did so, and then watched in shock as the tiger started to crawl out from under the deck. He moved slowly and paused for a few seconds after each movement, but before long he was sitting before me in the afternoon light. I immediately realized that he was much, _much_ larger than he'd looked in the darkness beneath the deck. Sitting on his haunches he was several feet taller than I was—quite a bit larger than the size of a bear that the crazy client had described him to be. His fur also looked coarse and matted, and seemed to be stretched over his bones; beneath it I could see all of his ribs. Then the tiger opened his eyes and I gasped.

He was blind.

I hadn't been able to tell before, but now it was obvious. His eyes were clouded by a milky white but he was still staring at me—through me—as though he could see me.

"I need chakra," the tiger said. "We summon animals live off chakra rather than food."

So that meant I'd wasted all that money and time for nothing? "Why didn't you say that in the first place?" I snapped.

"I was waiting to die."

A jolt ran through me. The idea was completely foreign to me—why would he want life to _end_? Why wouldn't he do everything in his power to stop death? "Why?" I asked aloud, morbidly curious.

The tiger sighed heavily and lowered his head. "I come from Mt. Torayama, home of the Tiger Clan. Born defected, I was considered useless and cast aside. No doubt I would have died young, like all others born with deformities. But…" He bared his teeth in what looked like a wicked grin. "I was never one to take my fate lying down. I left Torayama to explore the world on my own, and hopefully find the strength to succeed."

"And you failed?" I guessed. He certainly didn't seem young to me, but I was hardly an expert at guessing anyone's age, let alone a fucking tiger.

The tiger laughed loudly. "Hardly. Through my travels I learned more about the manipulation of chakra and its applications. What I found, ultimately, was a way to see using the energy of the world around me," he said. He grinned again. "I can see better than you can, boy."

"Then why…?"

He seemed to slump in on himself at my words. "My independence was a double edged sword," he said. "While I learned more than my brethren could have dreamed, what I had not known was just how dependent we are on chakra. Because we summons have our homes built over places on the earth that are naturally rich in chakra, we do not realize that we are feeding on that chakra every day. Even the contracts we make with humans exist for the sole reason to help us survive. When we are summoned by a human, they sacrifice a portion of their chakra to us in exchange. It is in part because of this that those summoned grow stronger and stronger, and that the most powerful amongst us require the most chakra.

"During my countless years of wandering, I had not been near any sort of chakra source. By the time I realized I had been slowly starving to death, I was already too far away to return. This village, Hidden Leaf Village, was the closest collection of ambient chakra that I could find, so I came here to stave off what I knew was coming. It was not long before I realized that it was inevitable."

I stayed silent after the tiger finished his story. Honestly, I felt more than a little awkward. I wasn't good with sympathy sort of stuff or social emotions in general. I generally tried to push them away and ignore them whenever possible, but a massive seven hundred pound tiger sitting two feet away from me was not something I could ignore.

"You just need to have chakra sacrificed to you, right?" I said suddenly. "Couldn't I do that, even without a contract-thingy?"

The tiger sat silently. It didn't take a genius to guess that he was an extremely prideful creature, and that he would rather starve than accept some sort of a handout. It wasn't a concept that I could empathize with, but I could at least understand it.

"How about we come to an agreement then? I give you chakra and you help me out when I ask. A fair trade," I offered.

"And how is that different from a summoning contract?" the tiger laughed.

"Well no summoning for one, unless you'd like to strap a smoke bomb on your back so that it looks like you're being summoned," I shot back. "But hey, if a fair trade doesn't sound good to you, you could always just take the chakra and head back to Mount Tiger or whatever."

The tiger snarled at me and I nearly jumped back, my heart pounding in my chest. His teeth were nearly the length of one of my hands!

"I will do no such thing!" he growled. "I have honor, more honor than my brethren by far! If it's a contract you want, then it's a contract you'll get."

As the anger drained from the tiger, it seemed to take all of his energy with it. Looking more frail than ever in the sunlight, he sunk down until he was lying on his stomach and looked up at me.

"…How does this work then? It looks like you really need the chakra," I said.

For a moment the tiger didn't respond. He'd closed his eyes again and it almost looked like he was sleeping. Without opening them he said, "Place your hand on my head. Will your chakra to me and it will be so."

I was dubious about anything that was supposed to "magically happen." I could still recall the one street magician I'd seen as a kid and how he'd screamed and fled when I'd stuck my hand through the bottom of the cage he'd been using and took out the bird hidden there; it had been a pathetically obvious illusion.

Despite my doubts however, I did as the tiger asked and placed my hand lightly on his head. His fur was warmer than I expected, practically radiating heat. I focused my attention on my hand and began to channel my chakra, _wanting_ it like he'd said, and gasped faintly when I felt a tugging sensation on my chakra, as though a hand was softly grasping it and pulling it down. The energy flowed around the tiger and seemed to settle on top of him for a moment before sinking into his fur.

The tiger released a deep, satisfied sigh. "It has been too long," he said wistfully. He opened his blind eyes again. "You may call me Tokui, little shinobi."

"Uzumaki Naruto. Does this mean you don't want to die anymore?" I asked cheekily.

Tokui swatted a large paw at me, not really intending to hit me. "Don't think you can be fresh with me, boy. It will take me time to gain my strength back, but that does not mean you can disrespect me. A contract is a mutual agreement; it requires the willing trust and acceptance of both parties. Now lead me to your den. I will rest there so that I can snack on your chakra whenever I wish."

"You're lucky I have a hell of a lot of chakra then." I chuckled. I paused for a moment, considering something. "Why haven't you tried to form a contract with a human before? I'm sure someone would have agreed to it."

Tokui gave me a look that I couldn't quite decipher. "I did," he answered. "Once." He stood up and circled around me. Even on four legs he was as tall as I was and could knock me over just by brushing up against me. His head stopped next to mine and I gulped, realizing that he could literally bite my head off and swallow it whole if he wanted to. I wasn't sure if even I could heal from something like that.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure someone is going to notice if I bring a giant tiger into my apartment," I pointed out when he didn't seem inclined to elaborate further.

Tokui bared his teeth in another grin and laughed. It was unnerving to hear so close to my face, since his laughs sounded half like growls. "You forget that I am a summon, not just a dumb beast," he said. "If I want to hide, you humans will never notice me. Lead, and I shall follow."

He began to walk forward, away from me, and as he did so he seemed to fade into the world around him. A second later I blinked and he was completely gone.

"I have _got _to learn that trick," I breathed. No matter how hard my eyes strained, I couldn't see even a flicker of movement. "Is that how you hid from Hyuuga's Byakuugan? By turning invisible?"

"I know nothing of this 'Byakuugan', but I am not invisible," Tokui voice came from somewhere ahead. "I am merely…altering your perception. This technique forces your mind to look elsewhere, to avoid seeing me. The only reason you found me in the first place was because I was too tired to keep the technique up for long. Now, are you coming?"

I quickly dusted off my pants and hurried ahead. Slipping onto the street was easy enough and no one started screaming about a giant man-eating tiger—though I half wished they would because that would be _awesome_—so I figured we were safe. If Tokui was still following me. He could be lost, for all I knew. It took less than half an hour to reach my dingy little apartment on the fifth floor of a large complex. I held the front door to the complex open wide, and nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt something brush past me.

"Well I guess you're not lost in Never Never Land then," I muttered and got another quiet chuckle in response.

We headed up the stairs, by some miracle coming across no other humans along the way. When we finally reached my apartment I deactivated the traps around my door and dodged out of the way of three shuriken that then embedded themselves in the wall behind me.

"Aren't you concerned that those will hurt someone?" asked Tokui.

"Nah, that's the whole point of setting traps. Besides, this complex is reserved for shinobi and shinobi-in-training, so anyone who activates my traps deserves what they get."

At last I opened my door. It seemed to push itself further open as Tokui slipped inside. I was just locking the door behind me when I heard the quiet _poof_ of a dispelling jutsu behind me. As I turned I saw that Tokui was fading back into view next to my couch. One of his paws was pressed firmly against the floor, half under the couch, and there was smoke dissipating from beneath his paw.

"You had a little mouse visitor," Tokui growled.

I frowned at the apparent lack of blood. "Oh, you finally caught that thing?"

The tiger summon's eye cut up sharply to mine. "You have seen it hanging about?"

"Yeah…?"

He withdrew his path and there was nothing underneath it. "It was a mouse summon," Tokui explained. "It seems someone has been spying on you."

o-O-o

-4:00 PM, February 26th, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 4-

I was hanging out with Lee when Hatake-sensei found me. Lee, who'd been pounding away at pole a few feet away noticed first and greeted him with a loud "Yosh!"

Glancing up from where I'd been determinedly on trying to split a leaf with my chakra, I saw the silver-haired Jounin stop before the two of us. "No luck with the wind chakra exercise yet?" Hatake-sensei asked with smile. "What happened to 'finishing as soon as possible'? It's been three months now."

"Yeah, well..." I rubbed the side of my nose and closed my fist around the leaf. "You haven't even given me any hints about where to start! I'm not a walking chakra encyclopedia, you know."

"That one doesn't even make sense," Hatake-sensei pointed out. "And if you're not sure where to start, then the _obvious_ answer is to ask someone else with an affinity for wind."

"Like who?"

He just continued to smile. "It's taken you three months to ask me that? For shame, Naruto-kun."

I gaped at Hatake-sensei, and then shot a glare at Lee, who I could almost swear was trying not to laugh while watching us from the sidelines. "Sorry, I forgot that I'm a mind-reading robot from the future," I snipped. "I'll try to remember what _specific questions_ to ask from now on."

"Good, good. The man you're looking for is Jounin Sarutobi Asuma. Tell him I sent you," Hatake-sensei said.

Asuma? I wondered if that was the person that kunoichi in Keishi had asked after. Unless Hatake-sensei knew more than one Asuma. Did he even have friends? I'd never seen him with someone his age other than Gai-sensei, who he always ran from as fast as possible.

"You're such a pedo," I said aloud with a snort.

Hatake-sensei gave me one of his odd looks. "How exactly did you come to that conclusion? No wait." He held up a hand as though to forestall my answer. "I don't think my mind could survive contact with your thought processes."

"You're right, smaller minds always quail beneath larger ones," I shot back with a cheeky grin.

This time Lee really was laughing. How Hatake-sensei and I interact must be very different from how he is with his sensei.

"So is there something in specific that you wanted, or were to just here to bask in my greatness?" I asked.

Hatake-sensei shook his head and sighed. "Would you mind if I spoke to my _cute, innocent_ little student alone, Lee-kun?"

"Of course! I must go find Neji-kun and challenge him to a match anyway. Thank you for sparring with me today, Naruto-kun!" Lee called as he ran off backwards, waving as he went.

"Any time!" I yelled back, for once actually meaning it. If there was one thing I'd learned since starting to hang around Lee, it was that he was a fucking _beast_ when it came to Taijutsu. Hatake-sensei may have been slowly honing my Taijutsu into an actual style, but Lee was perfect brawling against until my muscles ached.

Once he was gone, Hatake-sensei's body language instantly adopted what I had come to call 'serious shinobi mode'. It was just a notch below 'make-you-crap-your-pants serious assassin mode' and instantly made me straighten up with my arms clasped behind my back.

"Takauji Akihito was asking after you in the Hokage Tower," the Jounin said.

"Another mission?" I guessed.

Hatake-sensei smiled beneath his mask. It was not one of his good smiles. "No, just asking after you," he said. "Tell me, Naruto, how close are you to Takauji-san?"

Crap. It was never good when Hatake-sensei called me by my name with no honorifics attached. "What, do you want a list of every one interact with? I wasn't aware you kept that close a tab on my actions, other than your occasional stalking," I snapped.

He just calmly raised his visible eyebrow. "That's not what I asked," he said.

I shifted uncomfortably. "So what? You're hardly my nanny; I don't answer to you about anything outside of shinobi work."

In the blink of an eye Hatake-sensei crossed the distance between us and was looming down over me, only inches away. "I am your shinobi commander, which means that when I ask you something, you answer," he said. His voice was soft, but somehow it almost seemed like he was shouting. "I don't think you understand the seriousness of this situation."

"It's as serious as a clown…" I answered weakly.

Hatake-sensei drew back, finally allowing me to breathe easy, but he looked no less severe. "You do not want to get mixed up in court politics, Naruto-kun, trust me on that."

"I have no intention of getting into politics," I muttered.

"If you're around a Takauji, you won't have a choice," Hatake-sensei said with a sigh. "The world of the daimyo's court I considerably different to life in a hidden village. Shinobi there, 'court shinobi', have ties to individuals, not groups, and those ties can be bought and sold."

"So they're, what, missing-nin?"

"Only very, very rarely. A daimyo hiring a missing-nin is seen as a slight against the country the shinobi comes from, which isn't good for allies or enemies. And there's always the chance that the shinobi is actually spying for their village. The point that I'm trying to illustrate is that within the daimyo's court there is no loyalty in the sense that you're used to, no rules. It's a different world completely."

I lifted my chin stubbornly. "So? I may be friendly with Takauji, but I'm hardly 'loyal' to him or anything. I belong to Hidden Leaf Village. You know that."

Hatake-sensei made a vague sound in the back of his throat. He said, "Just watch yourself, Naruto. The Hokage is watching too. And you might want to head to the business district to find Takauji-san before more people hear he's looking for you."

The hair on the back of my neck rose up and my shoulders involuntarily tensed. "What—?" I started to say, and then quickly cut myself off. Hatake-sensei disappeared in a swirl of leaves and I stared at the spot he'd been in, wondering if I'd really been granted freedom by the Hokage on that day so many months ago, or if I just hadn't noticed the leash tightening around my neck.

o-O-o

-4:30 PM, February 26th, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Central District-

I found Takauji walking with two samurai bodyguards a few blocks from the Hokage Tower. It was easy to spot them, because the people on the street split like water around a boat to let them pass.

"Uzumaki-san!" Takauji greeted happily as I walked up to him. It was hard to reconcile his eager expression with Hatake-sensei's warnings of political intrigue.

"I heard you were looking for me," I said casually as I stood with my hands in my pockets. The samurai stood beside us, staring straight ahead stoically like statues. I wondered if they'd tip over if I pushed one of them.

"Oh, yes," he agreed. "Let's find a place to talk."

Apparently for a noble a 'place to talk' meant the most expensive teahouse in Hidden Leaf Village. I eyed the fancily dressed geisha around us warily as Takauji led me inside and nearly ran into a tall glass vase that was filled with carefully arranged flowers. We went into a private room near the middle of the large building and the two samurai waited outside. I was surprised to notice privacy seals on the doors. No wonder this place was expensive; it was probably where officials discussed important business.

I kneeled across from Takauji at the small table and waited awkwardly while a woman knelt next to us on the _tatami_ mats and served us tea in the manor of a traditional tea ceremony—something I'd only ever seen on TV before—before bowing herself out. I picked of the flawless wooden cup and eyed it carefully, sure that I would find a way to accidentally break it by the end of this.

"So…" I said.

Takauji smiled. "My apologies for the theatrics. This is the only way I know how to entertain a guest," he said.

"What's this about anyway?" I questioned.

"I spoke to a friend of mine who is a historian," Takauji said excitedly, leaning over the table. I noticed that on the wall behind him there was a decorative scroll with a proverb written on it in calligraphy. "He took a look at the device we took from that underground compound and he said it is technology from the mid-Saichuu Era. He is trying to figure out how it works now, but he said it is fascinating because almost nothing from before the Jūbi's War has survived, let alone perfectly preserved like what we found."

"So it's worth a lot then?"

"It's priceless! Right now it's the only example of technology in the Elemental Nations that isn't seal-based. We have to go back; I feel like we've only barely scratched the surface and who knows what other priceless treasures could be down there," Takauji said.

Non-seal-based technology? My brain stalled as I tried to wrap my head around what that meant. How could technology work without seals? Everything used seals—the lights in my apartments, the telephone wires that ran through the village, my shinobi-issued radio. _Everything_. If I pulled off the back of my TV I'd find the complicated seal there that was used to transmit images and sounds. How would a television even work if it didn't have a seal on it? How would it even turn on?

As I pushed the mindboggling idea away, I instead perked up at the mention of 'treasures'. If the thing we'd found already was priceless, then another trip back was definitely worth it, creepy dark tunnels or otherwise.

Taking a sip from the teacup, I asked, "Any plans for going back then?"

"Yes, as soon as I can safely get away. If all else fails, I reach the age of majority in seven months and then I will be able to take action without Sazaki constantly peering over my shoulder." Takauji sighed. "I had enough trouble convincing him to come back to Hidden Leaf Village so soon after the last trip. I am hoping to have you come along with me back to Keishi again, just like last time. I should be able to schedule a stop near the ruins during the day this time. My newest teacher is a monk, you see, so I can tell Sazaki that I want to take a short hike to mediate on nature and find some inner peace."

I frowned. "We should wait until my sensei goes on a solo mission though. He was already suspicious about us being gone for so long last time. If we try it again, there's no way he won't follow."

"Does he go on solo missions often?"

"Maybe once a month," I said with a shrug. "But it's been over a month and half since his last one, so it shouldn't be long now. If you can leave as soon as I give you word…"

"Sazaki is already eager to return, so that should not be a problem," Takauji said.

"Then the only remaining problem is _how_ I'll get word to you."

Takauji smiled brightly. "Oh, I have the perfect solution for that!" he replied. "I have been raising messenger birds since I was a boy. It was one of my father's hobbies. I can give you one so that you can write to me when your sensei leaves, or for anything else."

He wanted to give me a pet? There was no way in hell that could end well. Hadn't he already seen how animals acted around me?

"Er, you want me to take care an animal?" I said.

"Oh do not worry; these messenger birds are just about as intelligent as humans. You will not need to do anything to take care it other than treat it with respect," Takauji replied. Abruptly his eyes lit up like a kid getting his first kunai set—or whatever nobles got for their kids. Hurriedly he said, "And in case our messages ever get intercepted we can use some kind of super secret shinobi code! Like, Code Blue or such!"

No wonder most shinobi avoided working with civilians; they thought we ran around in ski masks and chanting to each in code every day. "Er, using the word 'code' will probably give away that's a code," I pointed out. "It would be better for the letters to sound like they're talking about normal every day things when they actually mean something else."

Takauji nodded eagerly, practically soaking up my words. "I understand! Then I can say 'I would like to take a walk through the Lotus Gardens again sometime soon.' and that can mean that I really want to go to the ruins."

"Sure, that works."

Still excited, Takauji reached into his yukata and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pencil. He began to chatter away about other codes while writing them down. Meanwhile I was frowning, wondering exactly how he kept pulling random items out of his clothes. There should have been some sort of a bulk showing that they were there, but I'd seen nothing.

"How do you store items in your clothes?" I asked curiously.

The teenage nobleman glanced up, surprised. "Oh, it's a storage seal," he answered. Setting down the pencil for a moment he partially pulled open his yukata and showed me a large black seal on the inside of the collar, just below the lining. "I just have to channel a little bit of chakra into it and I will retrieve whichever item I want."

"How did you learn to use chakra?" I questioned. It was hardly uncommon for a civilian to use seals. Seals were common knowledge for most people, and the majority of minor Seal Masters were civilians. But there were two distinct branches of sealing: civilian and shinobi. Shinobi seals were those like explosion tags or storage scrolls or, on higher levels, for things like summoning. These seals generally used not only more chakra than the civilian branch did, but also more careful control of precisely how much chakra. And that kind of control required training that most civilians didn't get.

Takauji just shrugged. "I was taught by my uncle's Seal Master when I was younger. It is standard knowledge for my family, since we use blood seals on important scrolls." He paused for a second, and then added, "I may be able to get you a few similar articles of clothing. I owe your something for helping me out so much."

There was literally no physical way for me to say no. I was more than well aware of how expensive storage scrolls were and how carefully they were guarded—a finger I'd painfully had to regenerate after nearly getting caught shoplifting attested to that. As such, there was also no other way for me to respond other than gaping openly. As though it were something he did every day, Takauji calmly brushed my reaction off and took another sip of tea.

It took another half an hour for us to agree on a list of codes and finish our discussion. It almost surprised me how easy it was to talk to him, despite our completely different backgrounds and ages. As we stood, Takauji said, "We'll have to keep up regular correspondence so that nothing seems unusual. Do you get long term missions often?"

"I'm just a Genin," I said, shrugging, "so there shouldn't be any problems."

Nodding, Takauji took the list of codes and slipped it into his yukata—and probably into the storage seal. We left the teahouse with the two samurai bodyguards following silently behind us. Come to think of it, I hadn't heard them make so much as a peep all day.

On the way to Takauji's summer manor we passed by the Hokage Tower. We were involved in a quiet discussion about his messenger birds when the front doors to the tower were suddenly thrown open and two disgruntled shinobi marched out, hauling between them a rather scruffy looking older civilian. The man was kicking and sobbing while yelling, "Please! You have to help me! _Please!_ My grandson—!" The shinobi dumped him and slammed the doors in his face.

Takauji and I stared in shock as the man dropped to his knees and began pounding on the doors, still sobbing. "What in the—" I managed to say, just before the man noticed us and staggered in our direction. The samurai stepped forward, hands on the hilts of their swords, but the man paid them no mind.

"Please!" he begged us with tears and snot running down his face. "It's not my fault! I do not have the money for a high-ranking mission! But my grandson— They'll kill him and the rest of my family!"

"What do you mean?" Takauji asked, looking shocked by the man's emotional outburst. I just sighed; it was probably his first encounter with someone so distressed. Shinobi dealt with such clients quite often, but the Hokage Tower turned them away if they couldn't pay—they were a government, not a charity, and wrong-doings were always going on in the world. For all his knowledge, Takauji was still a sheltered nobleman's son.

The civilian continued to sniffle, but had at least stopped sobbing. "I—I come from the Land of Waves," he said. "My name is Tazuna and I am a super bridge builder. I need super protection on my way back home. I'm building a super bridge to the mainland but _he_ wants to stop it so I need super protection. He killed my son-in-law many years ago to stop him, and he'll do it again! Please, help me! I don't care about my own life, but he'll kill my family!"

Takauji frowned, looking unusually serious. "I cannot abide oppression," he said. "If you would like, I may be able to help you."

Startled, I turned to stare at my friend. He was going to help some random man off the street, just like that? He could be lying for all Takauji knew! I glanced back at the red-faced, sniveling man who was now sobbing again. Okay, maybe not. But he still had no reason to help him.

"Please, come to my home and stay as a guest. You can tell me your story and I will see what I can do," Takauji said.

The man wiped his face on his grimy sleeve and thanked us over and over again. I think he might have even fallen to his knees and prostrated himself had the samurai not been still standing menacingly on either side.

At this point, I was half sure that the man was some kind of attention-seeking bum. I snorted and glanced away. If Takauji wanted to waste his time and money, then so be it. Who was I, a twelve year old Genin, to tell him to do otherwise?

The trek back to his home was quiet. Takauji had his servants take Tazuna away to be cleaned up while we headed out back to a tall, open building where he kept his messenger birds. It was made mostly of latticework and there were dozens of birds of all shapes and colors sitting in open straw baskets. I noticed immediately that they could fly out at any time, but chose to stay where they were. How odd.

"Ah, here," Takauji said as he stopped before a small, pale bird. He held out his hand and the bird immediately hopped on. "This is Temari. She'll suit your purposes well, I believe."

Takauji held his out expectantly. The bird gave me a _look_ that clearly said "Well? I'm waiting." I stared. Of course I couldn't be overly surprised by an animal's apparent intelligence, considering that there was a talking tiger living in my apartment. I was, however, surprised that all of the birds hadn't instantly fled the moment I'd stepped into the room like they usually did. Some were eying me warily, but most seemed content to ignore my presence. I guessed that these intelligent messenger birds really were different from regular animals.

I held my hand out and the small bird, Temari, instantly hopped over. She looked back at Takauji, then trilled and bobbed her head. The taller boy laughed as if that actually meant something. Meanwhile, I just sighed and hoped that I could convince Tokui not to eat my "gift". I was pretty sure tigers didn't eat birds, but everything I knew about tigers came from TV—which had also taught me that if a samurai got his arm cut off, he could run around screaming and waving his sword while gallons of blood squirted out from the stump.

o-O-o

-6:00 AM, March 2nd, 312 TE-

-Naruto's Apartment-

In a surprising twist of luck, Hatake-sensei was sent away on a solo mission less than a week later. Of course, once my luck evened out I would probably be decapitated by an errant telephone pole support wire. Takauji and I had already exchanged a few awkwardly formal letters—and Tokui had yet to eat Temari, who frequently gave both of us dirty looks—so I was able to get the word out to him almost instantly. True to his word, the next day I was called in for mission out of the village.

Umino-sensei, my old Academy teacher, turned up at my door at six in the morning, knocking loudly. I grumbled as I climbed over a still sleeping Tokui, who twitched in his sleep. The tiger summon had taken to sleeping in front of my space heater, which was next to my bedroom door, so I had to squeeze myself through the opening, stumble to my front door, and undo my traps while the knocking continued.

"You have a mission," Umino-sensei told me, holding out a simple scroll.

I blinked blearily at him. I had to stare at his outstretched hand for a moment before his words sunk in, then I quickly snatched the scroll. I was about to close in the door in his face when I hesitated.

"What are you doing here?" I asked curiously.

Umino-sensei raised an eyebrow. "I work in the mission center on the weekends," he said. "Naruto… How did you become a Genin? I received a note from the Hokage's office when you were promoted, but no explanation as to why."

Ah crap, I'd forgotten that Umino-sensei was the nosy one, always with the "Where did you get those exploding tags, Naruto?" and the "Did you take my wallet again, Naruto?" It was nearly impossible to walk away from him without giving an answer, because he'd hound me until I replied.

But this time I really did have an excuse.

"Classified information, sensei," I replied with a grin.

Umino-sensei frowned, but accepted the answer with a nod. He was about to leave when Tokui growled in his sleep—just loud enough to be heard from the door. Umino-sensei froze and turned back to me.

"What was that?"

"I'm keeping a tiger in my bedroom," I said with an entirely straight face. Umino-sensei rolled his eyes and left.

I laughed as I closed the door behind him. I'd long since learned that telling the truth could be the best answer when people were expecting me to be sarcastic—and with the added bonus that they couldn't come back and tell me I was lying later.

Upon opening the mission scroll, I found that I was being assigned to a squad with two other Genin under a Chuunin's command for an escort mission to Keishi. I didn't even need to read that the client was Takauji Akihito to know what it was about. I still had two hours before I needed to leave though, so I ate a quick instant ramen package while packing for the mission.

I was in the middle of counting my shuriken when Tokui woke up. He lumbered through the open door, towered over me, and said, "Chakra."

I rolled my eyes. "Not even a 'please'?" He growled low in his throat. "Yeah, yeah, I already know you're grumpy in the morning." Sighing I placed a hand on his head and absently fed him my chakra.

"You're packing," Tokui observed a minute later as he slowly rejoined the land of the living.

"I've got a mission. I'll be gone for a week or two."

Tokui growled again, much louder this time. "And what about my chakra?" he demanded.

"I think you'll survive," I pointed out dryly. He was already looking far better than when I'd first formed my informal 'contract' with him a little over two weeks ago. "I can even give you extra chakra or something now if you'd like."

"No, I need regular contact or else I will regress. Through the goodness of my heart I will not ask you to reject your mission—"

"To—what?"

"—and will instead go with you."

"Whoa, whoa, that's not a good idea. I'm going to be around other shinobi—other shinobi who I don't even know, and who knows what will happen if someone spots you," I protested.

Tokui raised his head haughtily. "I will not be caught by a mere human," he said with all the confidence in the world. "I have more experience hiding in plain sight than you will ever be able to achieve in your short life."

"Yeah, I know, you're hundreds of years old or whatever. Fine; I won't be able to stop you if you want to come anyway. But you have to promise that whatever you see, you will tell no one. Otherwise I'll break our contract," I threatened.

The tiger bared his teeth and me and laughed. "I dare you to try," he challenged. "But I have already told you what a contract like ours involves—complete trust. I will divulge nothing you do not want me to, and I expect you to do the same." Tokui paused and tilted his head to the side. "Exactly what are you involved in that has you so defensive?"

"I'm not defensive! And it's nothing dangerous, if that's what you're asking. But I swore I wouldn't tell, and I never break my promises. Ever."

"Then do not threaten to break ours," Tokui said with a short laugh. He turned and lumbered off, his long tail swishing through the air and nearly knocking me over.

o-O-o

_tatami_ – flooring mats used in traditional Japanese rooms

A/N: I've seen the seal-based technology idea in several different works of fanfiction, and I find it to be the perfect explanation for how the Naruto world has some technology (television, phones, lights, etc) but not others (automobiles, computers, video games, etc). The idea is pretty simple too: that instead of having technology based on electricity, it's based on seals. So there are no fuses, no transformers, no engines, etc etc, just seals that use a little bit of chakra to activate, and which pretty much anyone (ie civilians) can learn to create because the creation of seals themselves doesn't require chakra. And because most seals only require a tiny bit of chakra to activate, and anyone can learn to channel a bit of chakra since it's the control of said chakra that requires training, it's actually a perfect civilian profession. WDF's system of seal-based technology vs electrical-based technology will be explained in more detail as the story progresses.

A few reviews have questioned what purpose Naruto's quasi-immortality will have in the future, so I'd like to stress that while Naruto's regeneration is the basis for what has changed Naruto's personality (as opposed to canon!Naruto), its actual purpose _is_ for the plot, not his character. This story will vaguely have a three-act structure plot (the first being everything up through the Chuunin Exams, the second being fallout out from post-Exam events, and the third being the climax and conclusion), and the third act couldn't even happen without events put into place by the sheer existence of Naruto's regeneration.

Also, the regeneration may seem like a super power, but the way it works actually has several extremely important drawbacks that will go a long way in hindering Naruto more than helping him. You can probably figure them out if you think about how regeneration works enough, otherwise they will be revealed as Naruto realizes that something is wrong.

Happy reading!

—S.R.

_Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment.  
_-Rita Mae Brown


	10. Interlude III: Hyuuga Neji

Posted: June 10, 2012  
Last Updated: June 10, 2012  
Chapter WC: 946  
Story WC: 35,904

* * *

Worth Dying For

Interlude III  
_Hyuuga Neji_

* * *

-9:00 AM, March 15th, 312 TE-

-Eastern Fire Country-

_Run!_

Gai-sensei's words echoed in Neji's mind as his feet pushed off another branch. _Thud, thud_. Tenten and Lee hit the branch after him and flew in the air before reaching the next one. _Thud, thud, thu—BOOM._

Scalding heat, shards of wood. Neji twisted around, sticking lightly to branch and using his momentum to slide around to the underside before flipping to the ground. Quick burst of chakra to the leg muscles and a second spike of chakra reinforcing the bone to leap out of the way, five times faster than he was physically capable of. He could still feel the heat from the exploding tags on his back. Tenten's figure flashed through the smoke, sword in hand and a dozen kunai flying from the other—then she was flying back, narrowly missing a tree and struggling to regain her balance.

Flash of movement, pulse of chakra. Neji twisted and ran. Lee was beside him, teeth clenched and a large scroll tied to his back. They barely got two steps before a shadow leapt over them, hands wreathed in chakra—and then Gai-sensei was there, with a flurry of lightning fast kicks and punches, moving faster than Neji's mind could comprehend.

_Dodge, now!_ Neji pushed off the tree and changed direction. There was another pulse of chakra, then there were three enemies—another flash, then two. Gai-sensei flew across his vision, to the left. An explosion shook the ground to the right. Neji ran up a trunk—no, shinobi wire! He pushed off the tree again, narrowly missing the glimmer of metal at is whipped past him and easily bit into the trunk.

Neji's head snapped to the side as he backpedaled, trying desperately to follow the battle going on around him. Gai-sensei and the remaining enemy shinobi were both moving faster than he could follow, and all he could catch were flickered of movement and showers of dirt and splintered bark that sprayed in the aftermath of their attacks. Pulses of chakra lit up for the forest seemingly at random as jutsu were activated and dispelled.

_There_. There was a _bunshin_ of some kind making its way toward Lee. Tenten was too far away, and had fallen to one knee. Injured, possibly exhausted. Lee's movements were more sluggish than usual as well. Neji pushed more chakra into his leg muscles again and grit his teeth when the strain sent spike of pain through his nerves. He blurred into movement and used the trees as springboards as he ran to Lee. He intercepted the _bunshin_ just in time and lashed out—

The _bunshin _easily dodged out of the way of his open palms. Neji slid into his Jyuuken stance, barring the way between Lee and the chakra construction. The mission objective was the first priority, Neji's mind said. Get the scroll away safely, no matter the cost. It didn't matter how tired or drained of chakra he was. It didn't matter that he was facing a Jounin-level shinobi that they never should have crossed paths with in the first place. C-rank mission to A-rank in a matter of minutes. It was a statistical improbability.

"Your fate is to fail here," Neji said firmly, his voice deceptively calm despite his pounding pulse.

The _bunshin_ grinned. It was a sharp smile—all teeth and macabre humor. "Your fate is to die here."

With a flicker of chakra, the _bunshin_ changed, switching out with the real shinobi. Neji's eyes had a fraction of a moment to widen in surprise at the advanced use of _kawarimi_, but by then the shinobi was already gathering chakra. Neji dashed forward, palms up and ready to disable the man's tenketsu. There was enough time to at least disable his arms, so long as he reached the shinobi before he finished the hand seals.

A flicker of foreign chakra wrapped around the man. Neji's eyes caught sight of chakra strings leading into the trees and the brief look of shock on the enemy's face, then the chakra pulsed and washed over him and—

Pain. Searing, burning, choking, crushing _pain_. Every muscle in his body seized and rippled, nerves spiking and dulling as the heat swept over him and _through_ him and Neji couldn't think, couldn't breathe, didn't know anything but that _pain_.

Numbness spread through his body like cold ice. He must have blacked out because he was lying on his back, eyes closed, and so very cold. Neji's eyes opened a bare fraction of an inch. There were trees above him. The fire, the _pain,_ was gone, but his brain couldn't begin to make sense of what had happened. His thoughts were jumbled and tangled, jumping randomly through emotions without being able to hang on to a coherent thought. A dull pounding took up residence in his head, pulsing in time with the beat of his heart.

There was movement above him. Neji managed to open his eyes just a little bit more. Two shinobi. Black cloaks, white and red masks. Neji relaxed slightly and a single thought managed to untangle itself and push to the forefront of his mind. _Leaf ANBU_. He was safe.

One of the shinobi was holding up a small receiver and talking into it. Her voice washed over Neji as he closed his eyes. It was rough and low, and completely monotone without the slightest hint of inflection.

"Package acquired. Requesting permission for extraction."

Darkness consumed Neji's mind, sweeping him away in the warm embrace of unconsciousness.

Miles away Team Gai stood on the edge of a smoking, blackened crater and wept for the death of their teammate.

o-O-o

_bunshin_ – clone technique  
_kawarimi_ – replacement technique

A/N: Somehow, this is all Naruto's fault.

—S.R.

_The truth is rarely pure and never simple._  
-Oscar Wilde


	11. Chapter 7: Exploration

Posted: June 16, 2012  
Last Updated: June 16, 2012  
Chapter WC: 8,265  
Story WC: 44,169

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 7  
_Exploration_

* * *

-11:00 AM, March 2nd, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village's Northern Gate-

It was almost surprising to see that the other Genin and the Chuunin were already waiting at the northern gate when I arrived. I was so used to Hatake-sensei being late that timeliness seemed bizarre. I didn't recognize any of them, but it quickly became clear that the Chuunin knew me—and had had the honor of being on the end of one of my pranks.

"Uzumaki," he growled, grinding his teeth. He was in his late twenties, and had probably been a Chuunin for a while. His bitterness and obvious hatred for me combined with this mission was a Very Bad thing.

Could I never get a break?

I ignored the Chuunin and stood by the other Genin without a word. I could feel Tokui's massive form brushing against me, silently letting me know that he was still there. For a long second I desperately wished I could have Tokui reveal himself just so that I could see what kind of expression the Chuunin would make.

Either the Chuunin knew I was mocking him in my head or he was already in a bad mood—either way he didn't let me go so easily. Instead he strode over and glared down at me. I looked up at him, unimpressed. His glare barely reached a three on my Hatake-sensei Serious Glare Scale.

"You _will not_ cause any trouble on this mission, Uzumaki," he said with more force than strictly necessary. "Do you understand me? You put one toe out of line, and I _will_ make sure you're demoted."

"Yes sir, I will watch my toes, sir," I said in a bored tone and then, just for effect, stared down at my feet.

From the corner of my eye I watched the Chuunin turn red. To my disappointment he had enough self control that he didn't explode, and instead turned on his heel to wait stormily next to the Chuunin guarding the gate.

Great, _that_ didn't make anything awkward. The other two Genin completely ignored my presence, and each other's. I assumed we were a team that had been thrown together for the mission, based around Takauji's request for me. Hmm, I hoped the Chuunin didn't know I'd been requested; he'd probably just make the mission harder for me.

Thankfully Takauji's caravan arrived a few minutes later, looking exactly as it had last time. This time, however, I could recognize the older nobleman on the horse as his guardian, Sazaki. I started to head to the back the first wagon where Takauji would be, but the Chuunin stopped me before I could go more than a two steps.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked with open hostility. "You will not break formation without my express permission. Your Jounin sensei might let you run free, but I expect you to follow the chain of command."

My nostrils flared and I gritted my teeth. It took a second for me to calm down and then say, "I was requested to stay with the client, _sir_. Would you like to confirm it with him?"

The Chuunin frowned, torn between disbelief and wanting to look good in front of a client. At last he nodded jerkily and then disregarded me completely. "I want you two doing perimeter duty around the caravan," he said to the other Genin.

With Tokui at my side, I climbed into the back of the first wagon. Takauji greeted me cheerfully, already setting up a game of _shogi_. I rolled my eyes but took the seat across from him and consented to getting my ass kicked in a board game again.

We set off from the village when the sun was alright high in the sky. I wound up having to split my time playing _shogi_ with Takauji and walking in formation with the other shinobi. They weren't very good company, frankly. One of them, a thickly muscled, broad shouldered guy who was two or three years older than me just grunted whenever I asked him something. The kunoichi of the group—who was easily eighteen, which said a lot about her skills as a Genin—wouldn't even look at me. And of course I made no move to go anywhere near the prickly Chuunin. Messing with him might be fun, but setting him off before I disappeared with Takauji wasn't exactly a good idea.

I was almost starting to miss Hatake-sensei. It was a rather horrifying prospect.

Four boring days passed in this manner until finally—_finally_—we stopped near where the underground compound was located just before dinner. Almost before I knew it Takauji had all but leapt out of the wagon, grabbed me, and was rushing away with a hurried goodbye to his guardian.

"Did you see Sazaki-san's expression?" I mused as we reached the trees. "He looked like he'd just bitten into something sour."

Takauji smothered a laugh. "He will probably send someone to follow us," he said.

"Well I think I can provide us with at least some cover," I said with a grin. A few hand signs later and I'd made several dozen _bunshin_. I sent them rushing off in different directions and then gleefully said, "Run!"

Takauji's grin matched mine and we both took off into the woods, following alongside a small dirt trail. Of course, we had to slow down when Takauji began gasping for breath a few minutes later. He kept on apologizing, but even with him being a civilian it took us less than half an hour to find the area we'd been in last time, and another five minutes to find the tunnel entrance. I could feel Tokui's tail brushing up against me every now and then. It had taken me a while to learn not to jump out of my skin every time it happened, since it was just his way of silently letting me know where he was.

Then we stopped, and stared.

Where the entrance to the tunnels had been was now nothing more than steep ditch filled with dirt and mud. It had partially collapsed again, probably from recent rainfall.

"What do we do now?" Takauji asked despairingly. He turned to me. "Do you have another jutsu you can use? I've heard of ones that can move earth."

"They exist, but I don't know them," I said as I shook my head. I'd certainly been pulled into the ground up to my neck by Hatake-sensei more than enough times. I looked up and down the rocky trail, vaguely recalling the direction the tunnel ran in. "But…this opening was just a fluke, so there must be another entrance somewhere."

Takauji brightened up at the prospect. "Well then, let's find it!"

"It could be miles away," I carefully pointed out. Takauji didn't waver so I nodded, satisfied, and we set off into the woods, away from the trail. I made a _bunshin_ every fifty feet or so, to make sure we wouldn't get lost and that we were taking an exact straight line over where the tunnel should be.

Of course, there was a very good chance that there was a turn in the tunnel somewhere. If that was true, we were fucked.

We walked for what must have been another half an hour before we came across something that made me stop short. We had been vaguely following some more of those man-made stones before, but this? This was on a completely different level. It was a massive stone statue of a man, almost as tall as the treetops. It wasn't the statue itself that shocked me—I had grown up seeing the Hokage Mountain every day, after all, and the Great Izanagi Statue in Keishi completely dwarfed this one—so much as the fact that it was made out of a pure black stone, completely flawless and perfectly smooth despite the decades or even centuries it had been there for.

"What?" Takauji queried.

I shook my head without taking my eyes off the statue. "I don't know," I replied. "I have no idea what it is or how it could be here without anyone finding it."

"What are you talking about?" Takauji asked. He sounded honestly confused.

I frowned again and looked back at him. "The statue."

Takauji's gaze darted around the clearing, sliding right over the statue without looking directly at it. "What?" he repeated.

"Oh…" I looked back up at the stone with renewed awe—and confusion. "There must be some kind of Genjutsu over it. But why? And how, for that matter. Jutsu need chakra to keep them going and this clearly has been here for a while—there's moss and vines growing up its legs, covering almost everything below its waist. Maybe it's hidden by a seal of some sort…"

"Why can you see it while I can't?" The teen noble's frown reflected my own. "What is it a statue of?"

"Uh, a man. It's like thirty feet tall and really detailed—like jutsu-made detailed. He's wearing samurai-esque armor and a forehead protector with horns sticking out of it."

"Some kind of spirit, demon, or deity?" Takauji guessed.

"It could be… But why make a statue like this and then hide it? And you're right, how come I can see it?" I wished I could ask Tokui if he could see it too, or if he knew anything else about it, but the risk was too great.

"Do you think it could be related to the underground compound? It's right nearby."

"Well the door was locked with chakra. And maybe when we passed through it, it deactivated something? Though that doesn't explain why you can't see it, unless it's something to do with me being a shinobi," I said with a shrug.

"Do you think this could be the entrance?" Takauji asked, intrigued.

I grinned. "Only one way to find out."

I approached the base of the statue. His feet were actually buried a few feet in the ground, and I wondered if that said something about how long it had been there for. I brushed away some of the growth around his legs, but frankly I had no idea what I was looking for.

"Channel some chakra into the ground," Tokui suddenly said right next to my ear. "We're standing on top of a seal."

I shot a glance back at Takauji, who was watching me expectantly. I almost told him right then and there about Tokui, but something held me back. Instead I surreptitiously patted the tiger's side, silently thanking him. Standing directly in front of the statue, I took a deep breath and then began to channel my chakra. Much like when I was 'feeding' Tokui, I let it mingle in the air instead of twisting it into a particular form. Still holding my breath, I touched my hands to ground beneath the statue.

The effect was instant.

I jumped away when the loud grinding of metal against metal started up beneath us and the ground began to shake. "Holy shit—!" A light began to shine through the dirt around the statue as a bright, shining seal appeared. When Tokui had said we were standing on a seal, he hadn't been kidding—it was a massive seal around the entire clearing, with a diameter of at least two hundred feet.

Just as I was starting to think that activating the seal had been a Very Bad idea and that running away as fast as possible would be smart, the light flashed up around us and the world bled into white and—! I blinked the spots out of my eyes as the light faded away. Takauji, Tokui, and I were definitely not in the forest any more.

We were standing directly in the middle of a massive room. There were four steel walls around us instead of trees and a concrete floor beneath our feet where there had once been dirt and grass. Each of the walls was at least a few thousand feet away and I had to crane my neck back just to see the ceiling high above us, several stories up. The entire merchant district of Hidden Leaf Village could have comfortably fit in the room. There were more characters from the old language we'd found around the compound painted on the walls in a bright yellow, with each character over ten feet tall.

On the floor was a replica of the large seal that had lit up around the statue. It was painted black, inert.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Takauji said, awe coloring his voice as he looked around the cavernous space.

"It reminds me of a docking warehouse for ships, only a whole lot larger," I mused. At Takauji's questioning look, I added, "I saw one on TV once. It still doesn't even compare to this though."

"The oddest part is that this chamber is completely empty. It looks like it was made to house large constructs," Takauji said.

I shook my head. "Forget what it's used for, I want to know where we are! And what the hell this seal is, for that matter."

Takauji suddenly grabbed my arm, his eyes lighting up like they did whenever he found something fascinating—which seemed to be often. "This must be a part of the underground compound we found!" he exclaimed. "We would have to check with a Seal Master, but I'm pretty sure this is a type of transport seal. The knowledge of how to make them was lost a long time ago, so this _has_ to be the compound."

"Which still leaves us with no idea where we are," I said. I turned on my heel and surveyed the room. At one end of the room was a suitably sized—meaning it was large enough to make a giant uneasy—garage door made of metal panels.

"No, no, it does," Takauji replied. "One of the main reasons why transport seals were forgotten is because no one was ever able to modify them to work over a distance large than a mile. It's a two part seal that works both ways, so the other part—the one we came from—has to be within that distance. And considering the size of this room, I'd bet we're a mile underground, directly beneath that invisible statue."

"Yeah, I guess," I said, scratching the back of my neck. "Well if that gives us a way to get in and out of here, should we explore?"

Takauji looked like he was about start clapping his hands together from sheer happiness. "Oh yes, right away," he agreed.

We headed to the metal garage door, which was the only obvious exit to the cavernous room. There was a normal, human-sized panel on the wall to the left of it. It looked much like the one I remembered being next to the elevator in the other part of the compound we'd been in, except that below the currently blank screen was a hand-sized pad with a seal inscribed on it.

"You wouldn't happen to know what that seal is, would you?" I asked.

"No; my knowledge of seals is limited mostly to theory," Takauji replied with a shake of his head. "But from its location I would assume it is a lock of some kind. It does look like a simplified version of the blood seals I know though, so there is a chance it might be activated by any kind of blood or chakra."

I shrugged. "Well there's no harm in trying. Unless it explodes and kills us, of course." Well, by 'us' I meant 'him', but getting the daimyo's nephew killed would still end very badly for me. Maybe I could spend the rest of my non-life hiding out in this compound.

I pressed my hand against the pad and channeled a small amount of chakra into the seal. Instantly we heard more metallic grinding as the metal shielding of the door began to lift upward, revealing a large, long hallway beyond it. Once we were sure the door wasn't going to drop on us, we headed through the opening and proceeded further into the compound.

Two things immediately became apparent. The first was that this compound, whatever it was, was _huge_. Like size of a minor city huge, covering miles of space deep underground. The second was that it was split into two main sections: giant-sized and normal-sized. The part of the complex that was filled with giant-sized rooms was mostly locked off by large steel doors that required specific blood or chakra to open. Those that we _could_ get into were usually completely empty like the first room we'd arrived in—which we'd dubbed the Cavern, though I still voted for That One Really Big Room—but a few were filled metal machines and devices that Takauji said he'd never seen before.

"You have no idea what a discovery this is!" he kept saying over and over. "Most Saichuu Era technology was lost during the war!"

"You know, in the Academy they don't really teach us much history about before Hidden Leaf Village was founded. So you mind explaining a bit, like while all this 'technology' is rare?"

Naturally, Takauji was more than eager to launch into an academic explanation. "The Saichuu Era ended with what we call the Jūbi's War, because it was the Jūbi, a powerful demon who nearly destroyed the whole world. Historians say it was a reign of destruction unlike anything we can imagine, destroying entire cities at a time, killing millions upon millions of people, and ruining most of the known world. Technology in the Saichuu Era didn't use seals, but most of it was destroyed during the Jūbi's War so we don't know exactly how it worked.

"Today during the Tsuyoi Era, however, we have chakra, which back then we hadn't yet discovered how to manipulate. We have most abandoned the pursuit of ancient technology in favor of jutsu and seals. That's part of the reason why this compound is so incredible—it must have been built during the end days of the Jūbi's War, after chakra manipulation started to spread. I've never heard of a mix of chakra and ancient technology existing like this before. It's amazing!"

Note to self: Never ask Takauji for an in-depth history lesson.

"Right so, all this stuff is worth a lot then?" I asked.

"It's priceless!"

I scratched the back of my neck absently while repressing the urge to smile at that. "And what about this Jūbi thing? How was it stopped?"

"Your academy really didn't teach you about the Sage of the Six Paths?" he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Eh?" I shook my head. "Of course they did—he's the father of all shinobi. But what does he have to do with this war?"

Takauji shook his head again while frowning deeply. "It has everything do to with him. The Sage of the Six Paths is the one who stopped to war. He was practically considered to be a god because he was the one who managed to defeat the Jūbi. He sealed it away into himself, and then split it's chakra into the nine parts—nine parts which became known as the tailed beasts."

It took all my effort not to miss a step or even completely freeze in place. The 'tailed beasts' could only refer to one thing—and one of them was sealed away inside me. And Takauji was saying the Sage of the Six Paths _created_ them?

"I suppose you were not taught much about it because many believe the Sage of the Six Paths to be a myth," Takauji continued.

I stayed silent instead of answering, and Takauji fell into a thoughtful silence as well. When we reached the end of the large hall we found a pair of normal-sized double doors waiting. There was no lock on these and we passed easily into a long, normal-sized hall. Almost immediately we came across some sort of medical bay. It was actually one of the closest rooms in the complex to the Cavern. I was becoming surer and surer that this had been a military compound of some type. If Takauji was correct about its age, then maybe it had been a base during this 'Jūbi's War.'

Across from the medical bay was a conference room with a basic chakra seal lock. It was large enough to comfortably seat at least fifty people and in the middle of the room was an oval-shaped conference table with about half as many seats. There were several small black devices, three empty mugs, and a couple of randomly placed papers on the table, and the walls were covered from floor to ceiling in screens. It was a bit disconcerting to see everything left just as it was hundreds of years ago. I almost expected a ghost to walk in and continue about its business. But even more than that, it made me wonder what had happened here for everything to be left like this.

Takauji walked up to the table and began examining the devices that had been left there. The second he touched the first one there was a mechanical whirring and then abruptly a light on top of it began to flicker. Surprised, Takauji instantly dropped it back onto the table, just as the light above it expanded into a projected image of an orb. I could only describe it as a hologram like I'd once seen in a sci-fi show.

"That's different," I said. Takauji was too enraptured by it to reply.

Slowly the orb made of light began to rotate in the air. There were lines on it forming odd shapes. Takauji gasped and pointed to a section of it—a section that looked exactly like a map of the Elemental Countries.

"It's a globe! A world map," Takauji said quickly. "Look, this is Fire Country. The country borders are the same as they were during the early Tsuyoi Era."

I squinted at it. "So Fire Country used to be a lot smaller?"

"Yes, we have gained a fair amount of land over the years. But this…" Takauji shook his head in wonderment. "Few have ventured very far past the borders of the Elemental Countries in recent years, so we do not know much about the lands beyond us. But if this is accurate, then the world is even larger than we knew! Look at how small a space the elemental countries take up."

Takauji reached forward as he spoke, pointing out the countries. The second his finger touched the projected lights, the image suddenly grew and changed before our eyes, zooming in on a larger map of the Elemental Countries. Takauji jerked his hand back as though he'd been burned, but a moment later was once again exclaiming happily and fawning over the device's capabilities.

I felt Tokui brush up against me, harder than he usually did—and thereby nearly knocking me into the table. "Er, I think it's time we go," I said aloud. "We don't know how long we've been down here, but my bet is at least an hour and it will still take time to get back to caravan. I'd really rather not have your guardian think I've kidnapped you and sold you into slavery in Stone Country."

Takauji looked disappointed, but nodded slowly in agreement. "How about one more room then?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why do I feel like we're tempting fate?" I grumbled.

Takauji shot me a grin. He fiddled around with the black device until he figured out how to turn it off, then pocketed it. With one last longing look at the other things on the table he turned and left the room with me. The next door down was some kind of mechanical sliding door. We'd come across a few of them already, and they were generally the hardest to get into.

When I place my hand on the seal lock, nothing happened—not even the usual beep and flash of red letters that came with a locked room that I couldn't get into. Frowning, I took my hand off and then tried again. This time screen above the seal flashed green and with a whoosh of air the door slid open a quarter of the way—then stopped abruptly.

"It must be jammed," Takauji said as he stepped forward. He pushed against the door and immediately it smoothly slid open. "There we go."

He stepped into the room, casting a curious gaze around. It looked as though something had exploded in it. Half the ceiling had caved in and a large support beaming was groaning audibly. I watched, alarmed, as some debris was dislodged from the ceiling and began to shower onto the floor.

"I think the movement of the door might have disturbed its balance," I said, eying the unstable ceiling warily. "Come on, this is definitely not safe—"

Takauji was just turning to leave when the half fallen support beam gave a much louder groan and began to buckle. Eyes shooting wide open, I found my legs already in action, running forward into the room even as the loud, bone-chilling sound of metal snapping reverberated through the small space. I grabbed Takauji by the front of his clothes and pulled as hard as I could, literally throwing him out of the room as entire sections of steel and concrete began to collapse around us. A foot away from the door I felt something slam into the back of my legs, knocking down to the ground and pinning me there—and then suddenly I could feel powerful jaws wrapping around my arm, but the pain of the fangs sinking into my flesh nothing compared to the white hot agony of my arm nearly being yanked out of its socked when half of me was pulled forward while the lower half of my body was still pinned beneath the collapsed rubble and—

Suddenly my legs pulled free and I was being dragged across the floor by Tokui, who had a solid grip on my upper arm.

"W-wha—" Takauji was stunned into incoherency. He was staring at Tokui with wide, glazed eyes. For a brief moment I wondered if he thought he was dead or something like that.

"You need to eat more meat," Tokui said to me. "Your blood is low on iron."

I rolled my eyes. "Really? That's the first thing you have to say?" I said dryly.

Tokui shrugged. "It is true."

"This—!"

Takauji struggled to his feet as his eyes shot between us. Then he closed his eyes and took in a deep, shuddering breath. The action seemed to calm him down immensely because when he looked at us again, he was merely frowning instead of looking like he was about to have a breakdown.

"Who are you?" Takauji asked, addressing my tiger companion.

"I am called Tokui," was the response he got as Tokui lowered his head marginally. Now that he was visible, he made the hall look dwarf-sized instead of normal.

I rubbed the back of my head and smiled awkwardly. "Uh, sorry about not telling you about him. Tokui can hide in plain sight and it could potentially make things difficult for me if his presence was known."

Takauji sent me a sharp look. "I can see why," he said dryly. Hesitantly he lifted his hand toward Tokui and when the tiger didn't immediately try to bite it off, he rested it against his fur. Takauji's drew in a quick breath, almost as though surprised to find him solid and real. "You're so big," he said, awed.

Tokui lifted his head proudly, preening like a house cat under Takauji's praise. I snickered at the sight, instantly prompting Tokui to glare at me and peel his lips back, baring his teeth.

"Right, well, I think that was our big warning to get out here for now," I said.

"Yes, I believe so," Takauji said. He attempted to brush off at least some of the gray dust caking his clothes, to little avail. Without looking up he said, "You know, you just saved my life, Naruto-kun."

I shrugged uncomfortably. "What, should I have just let you die? Please—your guardian would have killed me. And then Hatake-sensei would probably dig up my body and kill me again…"

Takauji gave me an odd smile that I couldn't decipher, and that resembled some of Hatake-sensei's smiles a little too much for comfort. "Please, just call me Akihito."

o-O-o

-1:30 PM, March 31st, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 16-

"Do you know what tomorrow is?"

I grunted noncommittally as I preformed the same strike again and again against a post. There was gauze wrapped around my hands to prevent too many splinters from getting caught in my busted up knuckles; they were a pain to have to dig out later. Hatake-sensei continued hum an upbeat tune, so at last I rolled my eyes and looked over at him.

"What's tomorrow, Hatake-sensei?" I asked dutifully.

"Graduation!"

"Come again?"

"Your Academy class graduates and is assigned teams tomorrow," he said. He was still smiling, but I noticed it was more forced than it usually was when he was intent on making my life hell.

Frowning, I rocked back on my heels. "And this concerns me how, exactly?"

"You knew it had to come eventually Naruto. You'll be placed on an official Genin team."

Something in my chest tightened for reasons I couldn't begin to fathom, and nor did I want to. "With rookies? Sounds _fantastic_," I muttered. "Well at least I might finally get a sensei who will teach me jutsu. Maybe even that mysterious 'Asuma' that you mentioned before."

"No can do, Naruto-chan," Hatake-sensei said with a chuckle. "You'll still be on my team. But there are other students I have to teach as well."

_Have_ to teach? That sounded a bit odd. Hatake-sensei was strong, sure, but he wasn't exactly 'kid friendly'. Or people friendly, for that matter. Then in a flash, my mind connected the dots—Uchiha Sasuke had been in my Academy class. And other than him, Hatake-sensei was the only person alive with the Sharingan. Naturally, he had to teach Sasuke how to use his bloodline.

I snorted aloud. "Oh, this is going to be bundles of fun, isn't it?" I muttered. "I'll at least be trained separately, right?"

"We'll see." And the obnoxious grin was back. "Maybe you can be my teacher aide!"

"Like hell I will!"

The rest of the day was pure torture. Hatake-sensei ran me through what felt like every _kata_ and training exercise he knew, as though he wanted to cram the rest of our training into that single day. It was worth it that evening though, when he suddenly stopped our training and held out a new set of chakra suppressors.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed while grinning widely. "I told you I was ready for another one—I mastered water walking ages ago!"

"And yet you still waste half the needed chakra when performing even a simple _bunshin,_" Hatake-sensei said.

"That's still significantly better than what I used to do."

Hatake-sensei made a shooing motion with his hand. "Just go home and put them on. I'll meet you tomorrow morning at the Academy—"

With a whirl of leaves a Chuunin appeared. He passed a folded up piece of paper to Hatake-sensei and then disappeared without another word. It was always odd to see my sensei go from playful to completely serious in a split second, as he did in that moment. It reminded me that no matter how he acted, he was still a Jounin, not to mention ex-ANBU (and hadn't _that _information taken ages to drag out of him).

"I already dismissed you, Naruto," Hatake-sensei, staring down at the paper. I nodded and swiftly left.

o-O-o

-7:10 AM, April 1st, 312 TE-

-Shinobi Academy-

At 7:10 in the morning on the day after Academy graduation, Uchiha Sasuke sat in his seat with his elbows on the desk and his hands folded over each other. He blocked out the rowdy noise of the children around him by counting the scratches in the wood of the desk. There was pencil grime in a number of them, and soon he had to switch to counting the ceiling tiles to avoid fixating on wanting to clean the desk.

Just after the clock had hit 7:26 the door to the classroom slid open. It admitted one Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke immediately raised his head and narrowed his gaze on the boy, mind working furiously as he tried to figure out what he was doing there.

There was a forehead protector on Naruto's forehead. There were four visible scratches in the metal and the sheen indicating a new forehead protector was missing. He was wearing dull orange pants with three weapon pouches. The weapon pouch on his upper right leg had one button missing—it looked like it had been torn away. The bottom of his pants had traces of mud stains. His black shirt showed no visible stains, but there was a small, almost invisible tear along the neckline.

Naruto had been an active shinobi for at least a few months.

Sasuke cast his mind back, trying to remember the day Naruto left. There was no particular event that sprung to mind. One day Naruto had merely stopped attending and his name had been removed from the class roster with no explanation. Sasuke had not thought to ask questions out at the time. He merely assumed that the blond had dropped out.

Sasuke grimaced as his father's voice rung in his head, saying _Never make assumptions. Assumptions are what kill shinobi._ He had assumed Itachi was loyal to the clan. And now he'd assumed Naruto was a dropout. Both were wrong.

The Uzumaki boy sat down in the seat closest to the door. He leaned back against the desk behind him and folded his arms over his chest. He didn't look at anyone. Conversations that had fallen away at his entrance slowly began to start up again.

Almost immediately Kiba jumped onto the desk behind Naruto. Crouching on all fours, he peered down at the blond. His filthy dog sat on his head like a stuffed animal.

"Oi, what are you doing here?" Kiba jeered loudly. "This room is for graduates only."

While watching the proceedings from the corner of his eye, Sasuke wondered how someone who was supposed to be a shinobi could be so unobservant as to miss Naruto's forehead protector.

"The hell are you on about?" Naruto retorted. He tapped his forehead. "I'm a shinobi, moron."

"Then where have you been? You're Naruto, right? You left ages ago!" Kiba said with a laugh. His dog barked in agreement.

Naruto rolled his eyes and muttered something inaudible under his breath. From the look on Kiba's face, it couldn't have been anything complimentary.

A row behind them, Shikamaru spoke up. "You graduated early, didn't you?" he said. Sasuke nodded along absently, glad that at least someone in the class had a brain to go with their eyes.

Naruto twisted around in his seat to look back at Shikamaru. "Exactly," he said, flashing a grin. Sasuke noticed a piece of food stuck in his tooth and twitched visibly. "I _could_ have just walked in here and sat down for fun of it, but willingly doing something like that ranks only just above being eaten alive by a squirrel on my Naruto Pain Scale."

Under his breath Shikamaru muttered, "Troublesome." Then he nodded and said, "Nara Shikamaru, if you've forgotten."

Shrugging, Naruto replied, "Yeah, pretty much."

In the mean time, Kiba's face had quickly grown red. It made his grimy hair stand out all the more, and Sasuke instantly had to avert his gaze from the sight. Inuzuka bared his teeth in a wide grin and said, "Well if you're a Genin, what got you sent back here? Failed in the real world and got sent back to school?"

"You can't really be that stupid," Naruto said with a flat stare. Inuzuka spluttered indignantly and his dog began barking loudly. The blond continued, "Because I graduated early I've been doing rotational shifts for missions, filling in holes on different Genin teams. But now that you guys are—finally—graduating, I have the immense joy of being assigned to a permanent team." He snorted and looked away. "Lucky me."

Before Kiba could reply, the door slid open again. It was not Iruka-sensei like Sasuke was expecting—it was 7:31 which meant he was _late_—but rather a boy and girl. Sasuke had never seen either of them before, but they were obviously both shinobi. The girl had her hair done up in tight buns on their side of her head and the boy's hair was cut in a round shape, perfectly smooth with not a single hair out of place. Sasuke briefly wished he had such hair; his seemed to be doomed to be out of place, regardless of how much hair product he used. A few years ago Sasuke sold his bathroom mirror, to avoid having to see such a travesty.

Immediately upon their entry Naruto stood and rushed to them. He moved much faster than Sasuke was expecting. The boy with the good hair lowered his head, staring at the floor. The girl's eyes were rimmed with red, as though she had been crying recently. Sasuke looked away.

"What happened?" Naruto demanded. "Where's Hyuuga? Lee, what happened?"

The boy shook his head. His face looked rather blank, neither smiling nor frowning. As Naruto's gaze switched to the girl, she said, "Two weeks ago...we had a mission that went from C-rank to A-rank. We were told to come here to…"

Sasuke did not know which Hyuuga they were referring to—Hyuuga Hinata was in her seat, slumped down and not looking at anyone. It was, however, pretty apparent to Sasuke that the two standing in the doorway had recently lost a teammate and were being added to their class for team assignment. According to theory, missions only increased in rank if they became more difficult, specifically if a powerful opponent appeared.

Several Jounin walked into the room just as the two new shinobi sat down with Naruto. Sasuke put his hands down at sat up straighter. His eyes quickly flashed over them, wondering which would be the one to help him achieve his goals.

A tall Jounin with broad shoulders and dark hair stepped forward. "Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Heisei Mamoru, and Haruno Sakura, I am your Jounin sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. Come with me," he said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a snap of his finger.

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto sit up, staring intently at the Jounin. No one else seemed to notice this odd reaction. Sarutobi walked from the room and didn't even look back as his Genin filed out behind him. A woman stepped forward next, quickly listed off a few names, and smiled benignly as the children walked up to her. More Jounin followed, one of them a pale haired man with a scar on his chin and the other a shinobi whose face was so rigid it looked like he could break a shuriken in half with his jaw alone.

The fourth Jounin was a man who looked like an older version of the boy sitting next to Naruto. Quickly looking back and forth between them, Sasuke was able to confirm that despite their identical outfits and hair, they were not related. Their facial structured differed too much. The set of the Jounin's nose was completely different. The Jounin was built for raw strength, while the boy was built for speed.

"Rock Lee, Utatane Tenten, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji, follow me. I am Maito Gai," this man said.

One by one the number of Genin began to shrink as Jounin left with their students. At last Sasuke was left alone with Naruto, the Aburame boy, and one of his dreadful fangirls. Sasuke clenched his fists. The girl alone ruined this team, regardless of the capabilities of the other two. Sasuke was not interested in dragging along a dead-weight. He knew how powerful Itachi was, and how big a gap there was between them. If he was weighed down by some silly little girl who thought being a kunoichi meant memorizing a list of past events and looking pretty then there was a chance he would never catch up to Itachi.

Their Jounin sensei was not there. That irked Sasuke almost more than the Fangirl. He would _not_ be pawned off onto a sensei who had no real desire to teach them. It looked like Sasuke would be spending the next few days training at night in order to catch up on wasted time.

A loud yelp sounded from the front of the room. Sasuke's head snapped over to see Naruto glaring at a silver haired man who was standing behind him, leaning over his shoulder.

"You need to pay more attention!" the man said cheerfully and then flicked Naruto on the forehead. The boy grumbled under his breath. "What was that?"

"Nothing, _sensei_," Naruto said in an overly innocent tone. "I was just wondering: is that a black hair I see?"

The man's hand automatically rose to his head, then he flicked Naruto again, who scowled. It was obvious to Sasuke that they were very familiar with each other. Was this who had been teaching Naruto since he'd left?

"Right then, on to business," the man said as he sauntered into the middle of the room. "Since you're all here and they're all gone, we'll do our introductions here. I'm Hatake Kakashi, your new Jounin sensei. Aren't you lucky!" He stared at Naruto, who gave an innocent smile in reply, obviously swallowing whatever he wanted to say. "I want you all to tell everyone six things about yourself: Your full name, age, rank—"

"But that's obvious, sensei," the Fangirl said. Kakashi stopped and stared blankly at her until she started shifting uncomfortably and looked down. Her cheeks flushed as she mumbled something unintelligible under her breath.

Sasuke glowered. This whole thing was proving to be a waste of time. He had package of fresh fish at home that he wanted to eat for lunch. It would take 14 minutes to cook, 3 minutes to clean up, and then he could head out and spend the rest of the day training.

Kakashi beamed at the Fangirl and then continued as though she hadn't spoken, saying, "You will tell everyone your full name, age, rank, blood type, next of kin, and registration number. Listen closely, because you need to memorize what your teammates' answers are. And yes, you will be tested. If you fail, I'll stab you with a kunai."

Sasuke stared at the man and could safely say he was not the only one. However, he probably was the only deciding that he might like Kakashi as a sensei. The man was clearly not afraid to be rough with them. That he only had one eye made Sasuke concerned that his depth perception could be too off though, and that could affect his fighting capabilities.

"Yeah, _this_ will be fun," Naruto muttered.

Kakashi then stabbed him in the shoulder.

"The fuck—?" Naruto snarled as he yanked the kunai out and tossed it at Kakashi. The Jounin laughed aloud as he dodged and the blade slammed into the blackboard behind him, cracking it down the middle "What the hell was that for?"

Sasuke's hand was frozen over his weapon pouch as this proceeded. He jolted in his seat as the blackboard crashed to the floor in the background. This was…not what he was expecting when he'd praised Kakashi for being 'rough'.

"No disrespecting your sensei," Kakashi said gleefully. "And since you decided to make yourself stand out—"

"I'm not the one getting happy with the pointed weapons! You're scarring my teammates' delicate minds!"

"—You can go first, Naruto-chan," Kakashi finished.

The Fangirl was gaping at both of them, looking more than just a little horrified. It was impossible to tell what the Mute was thinking behind his high-collared jacket. For his part, Sasuke's arm was beginning to itch at just the thought of the blood drying and staining Naruto's shirt. Bloodstains were always difficult to remove, so it was best to soak them in water straight away. Naruto seemed entire unconcerned with this, which boggled Sasuke's mind.

"Yeah, whatever," Naruto grumbled. He paused for a second and his face scrunched up in thought. "Uzumaki Naruto, twelve, Genin, B, no one, 012592."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Naruto glared at him, but kept his mouth shut. "Next?" Kakashi prompted.

The Mute leaned forward. "I am Aburame Shino, twelve years old, a Genin, my blood type is AB, Aburame Shibi, and my registration is 012618," he said. His voice was monotone, but not quite flat. He glanced toward Sasuke, whose perpetual frown deepened. He was not comfortable with handing out information about himself, especially not while the Fangirl was eying him like a piece of meat she wanted to carve up.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Twelve. Genin. AB…" Sasuke's voice constricted in his throat. For a moment all he could see was blood, the bodies of his parents, and Itachi's spinning red eyes as he sneered down at him. "No one," he managed to continue, only marginally sounding like he was chocking. He would _not_ break down, he would _not_ show weakness to these people. "012606."

The Fangirl looked anxiously at Sasuke. That sort of _pity_ was exactly what he didn't want. He preferred the hidden sneers to the pity. She reached out to touch his shoulder, but a short glare from him made her stop short and quickly withdraw the appendage. If he didn't let that therapist they threw at him touch him, why would she think she could?

"Umm... I'm Yamanaka Ino, twelve, Genin, B blood, Yamanaka Inoichi, 012604," she said. She stared at Sasuke the entire time she spoke. He tried to pretend she wasn't. With luck she would be like that weird stain on the outside of his apartment building that had been just out of reach, and would disappear if he waited long enough.

Kakashi clapped his hands. "Now that that's done, we can move on to the real point of this meeting: you're not actually Genin yet. Except for Naruto-kun," he said as an afterthought, "but that's still debatable.

Sasuke felt like an icy cold hand had gripped his heart and was threatening to rip it from his chest. "What do you mean?" he demanded. He'd gone through too much, fought too hard, to be stopped now.

"No need to be so angry, Sasuke-chan!" Kakashi said.

A growl rose in the back of Sasuke's throat and he glared fiercely at the Jounin. He was not about to be insulted by a man with a tilted forehead protector that he desperately wanted to reach out and straighten.

Ignoring Sasuke's reaction completely, Kakashi continued his dramatic explanation. "You still have one more exam to pass before you are officially instated as shinobi. That exam will take place…tomorrow! Your orders are thus: show up by the South Gate at 0600 tomorrow, equipped for a long term mission. If you are late, you fail. If you want to withdraw, say so now."

To Sasuke's eternal surprise, the Fangirl tore her gaze away from him long enough to evenly meet Kakashi's gaze. With determination in her voice she said, "We wouldn't be here if we weren't already sure that we wanted to be shinobi, sensei. What type of mission should we pack for?"

Kakashi smiled. "Good question. But I won't give you an answer."

The girl immediately protested, "But that's not—"

"Not fair? And I thought you said you wanted to be a kunoichi. Sometimes you have to pack without knowing exactly what you'll need, and this is one such occasion," Kakashi said.

Naruto shifted in his seat while frowning. He was eying Kakashi suspiciously—and still ignoring the blood that had dried on his arm from his shoulder wound. How in the world could he not want to clean it off? He was even more of an unknown wildcard that Sasuke had thought he was.

"Can we go then?" Sasuke asked, looking anywhere other than at Naruto's arm.

Kakashi's smile widened. "Nope! Not until all of you can recite the six pieces of information each of your teammates gave. Naruto-kun, we'll start with you. Go!"

Naruto stared blankly. "What?"

"Oh dear, is your poor memory acting up? How about blondie #2 then?" Kakashi said to the Fangirl. She glared at him. "No? Shino, Sasuke, anything to add?"

The Mute didn't move at all and Sasuke looked away, not wanting to admit that he didn't remember. He'd always had a good memory and caught onto things quick—but only if he found them important enough to remember. And to him, the Mute, the Fangirl, and the Wildcard had yet to do anything to prove themselves as worthy shinobi.

"Alright then, I guess you four had better give out that information again," Kakashi said. "You're not going home until all of you can recite everything perfectly—and I don't care if it takes all night."

o-O-o

_shogi_ – Japanese chess  
_bunshin_ – clone technique

A/N: The image of Sasuke using words like "dreadful" and "travesty" makes me lol. And yes, part of this story will be told from Sasuke's point of view. The large difference between the way he and Naruto think and view the world makes him surprisingly fun to write. Also, I'm assuming that Hidden Leaf's Academy at least vaguely follows Japans school year system, hence why they are graduating in April.

A quick correction to the AN from chapter 6: apparently there are computers in the Naruto world. They've mainly been shown being used by hospitals however (ie to monitor Choji's vitals after his fights with Jirobo), so I'm going to assume for now that they have pretty limited capabilities and that nothing like the internet exists. Upon further research I've also found an interview in which Kishimoto specifically states that they are "low-processing" computers that would "maybe" be eight-bit and that they would "definitely not" be sixteen-bit. So yeah, pretty basic technology.

And finally, I'm starting to make some use of the new "story cover" feature that FF net has added. Hope it's not too small/indiscernible though... (You guys can tell what it's a picture of, right?) I might change it/add text later, but it works for now.

Happy reading!

—S.R.


	12. Chapter 8: Examination

Posted: June 23, 2012  
Last Updated: June 23, 2012  
Chapter WC: 5,496  
Story WC: 49,665

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 8  
_Examination_

* * *

-5:59 AM, April 2nd, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village's Southern Gate-

I was the last person to arrive at the South Gate the next morning. I also nearly had a heart attack when I saw that Hatake-sensei was already there, leaning back in chair near the guard station. Yesterday when he was only a few minutes later had been bizarre enough, but _early?_

"Maa, another minute and you would have failed, Naruto," he said lazily.

Shielding my gaze, I looked up at the sky. "No fire raining from the sky or swarms of locust? This is a pretty shitty apocalypse," I said.

Hatake-sensei took his feet off the table they'd been propped up on and stood. Leaning down close to me while the other Genin stood in the background, he said, "Since you don't have anything riding on this exam, I'm going to give you a little incentive. If you pass, I'll teach you _shunshin_."

My eyes widened at the mention of the one jutsu I'd been begging Hatake-sensei to teach me since I first became a Genin. "We'll have no problems passing, _sir_," I said with a wide grin.

Chuckling, Hatake-sensei patted my head like he would a dog, then quickly withdrew before I could slap his hand away. He ushered me to stand with the rest of my 'team' before addressing us all. An invisible Tokui sat behind me, silently waiting.

"Now then, I want all of you to take out every piece of equipment on you, including everything you have in sealed scrolls, and lay them on the ground in front of you," Hatake-sensei said.

The bewildered kids slowly began to follow his instructions. I hesitated for a moment as I followed suit, not quite comfortable with pouring everything out in front of them. Uchiha appeared to be having similar thoughts, because he was almost physically shaking as he unpacked. I felt surprisingly vulnerable and naked as I stripped off all of my weapons and equipment. It wasn't like I couldn't fight without them, I just... I hadn't been without at least a kunai for years, even when sleeping, now that I thought about it.

Once we were all done, Hatake-sensei crouched down in front of Yamanaka's pile and began to poke through it. I noticed with some surprise that Aburame had the most out of all of us. He probably had tons of pockets in that coat he wore. Another surprise was Uchiha's pile—which more closely resembled a store's display counter than a pile. All of his items were meticulously lined up so that that nothing was touching anything else, and they each took up equal space. Yamanaka was twittering about how _perfect_ Uchiha was. I just thought he was anal-retentive.

Hatake-sensei went through each of our piles one by one, all without saying a word. When he finally stood back up he motioned for us to put everything away and then rocked back on his heels while thoughtfully tapping his cheek. With a jolt I realized that this had been part of the exam.

"All of you packed too many weapons," Hatake-sensei said. "Ino-chan, you brought unnecessary items such as makeup and tissues. Exactly what good would that do you on a mission?"

"They can be used for infiltration," Yamanaka said.

"_Henge_," the Jounin retorted.

Yamanaka shook her head. "_Henge_ can be detected, which would blow the mission."

"Then learn to do without makeup anyway. Your reasoning makes sense, but it still takes up unnecessary room. Points for defending your choice though. You also didn't pack enough water purification tablets—"

"We can find a fresh water source," Yamanaka quickly said.

"—And negative points for defending a stupid choice. You don't know that you'll run into a fresh water source during your mission, especially since you don't know where you'll be going. Oh look, you could have brought more tablets in place of makeup! Funny how that works out, isn't it?" Hatake-sensei said dryly.

The blonde haired girl fumed silently. She didn't try to defend herself again, though she looked like she desperately wanted too.

Hatake-sensei turned to the Uchiha. "Sasuke-kun, you brought far more shuriken than you would need on any mission given to a Genin. Or a Chuunin, for that matter. If you feel like you need that much, you need to learn more about how to use weapons." The boy frowned, but said nothing. "You should also try balancing your supply of rations and military ration pills; too many pills can be damaging and, again, you'd have to be doing more fighting than you'll generally see in one mission to need so many. Limit yourself to a dozen at most for a long mission, and even that's pushing it. The alcohol wipes are good though, since if you get injured they increase the amount of time you can go without seeing a medic-nin before being in danger of getting an infection.

"Naruto-kun... Sewing set, good. You're the only one who thought to bring one. To the rest of you, if you don't have one then you need to pick one up as soon as you get back. During a long mission your clothes _will_ get torn some way or another, whether you see combat or not, so a sewing set is imperative. For example, Sasuke-kun, if you had a rip in your shirt and were stationed in a wet location for your mission, what would you do?"

I expected Uchiha give some kind of snooty response about not caring—because, come on, he was _Uchiha_. Instead he surprised me by frowning and considering the question seriously.

After a minute he slowly said, "With no sewing set, I would change into a fresh shirt until I could reach a place where I could buy something to fix it with."

"A fair answer," Hatake-sense said with a nod. His eyes swept over all of us. "If you're in a harsh environment, or even just a wet one such as a bog or Rain Country, then exposing yourself to the elements more than you need to can lead to a slew of problems that will get you sick—especially with fungal problems. Plus ripped clothing can be a hazard in combat. You never want to give your enemy more of an opening than they'll already have with a green-thumbed kids like you four.

"Continuing on, Naruto you have far too many exploding tags and not enough rations. Even you need to eat sometimes." He gave me a significant look. "Shino-kun, you have a compass, good. Such a tool can be useful on any mission, and especially when you don't know where you'll be going. The sunscreen is a nice touch as well; you'd be amazed at how many shinobi don't think of the sun and then get slowed down in battle thanks to sunburn because they didn't realize what the effect of lying in the sun for a week while doing surveillance would be. Of course, if you have a medic-nin with you then it wouldn't be a problem, but obviously you don't have that luxury. Aaand finally, you need more water purification tablets as well. You kids are really underestimating what you'll need out there in the big, harsh world. At least you all brought canteens though; that's more than I can say for some wet behind the ears Genin.

"And next, onto your actual exam parameters!" Hatake-sensei clapped his hands together, looking happier than any sensei had the right to be. "This exam is being partaken by all the Genin who graduated. Here's the catch: we usually put Genin in three-man cells, as you should be aware. This year we put you in four-man cells because we're raising the bar on what it takes to become a shinobi. So out of all the Genin who are participating, only one team will pass."

"What?" Yamanaka shrieked—and damn did she have a set of lungs on her. "But there's, like, eight teams!"

Even Aburame straightened up, startled by the news, and Uchiha looked ready to spit fire.

"Yep! But you still haven't heard what the actual exam is yet!" Hatake-sensei said.

He had his evil smile on again. With a flourish he took out a map of Fire Country and held it out to us. There was a little red X drawn in ink on it, marking a spot on the southern peninsula of the country, miles and miles from any town. Hatake-sensei tapped the mark.

This is where you need to go. The first team to arrive passes," he explained. "But there are a few strings attached: If you take more than a week, even if you get there first, you fail. If you speak to anyone outside of your team, even an animal, you fail. If you try to get directions from someone, you fail. If a civilian sees you, you fail. If one of your teammates gets injured or sick, you fail. If you show up without all of your teammates, you fail. If you engage in combat of any kind, you fail." His gaze swept over them. "Let me repeat that last one. If you engage in combat of _any kind_, be it self-defense or against an animal, _you will fail_. So if you happen to come across another team, what will you do? You'll run in the opposite direction."

With a start, I realized that was why Hatake-sensei had said we'd brought too many weapons—we weren't going to need them. This exam focused on survival and navigation alone.

"Rest assured that we'll be watching you the entire time. If you break one of the rules or put so much as a toe out of line, we will notice. If you want to quit at any time during the exam, say so and we'll pull you out. But fair warning: this is a team exam. You will either win together or lose together, no exceptions," Hatake-sensei said.

"Are we forbidden from using jutsu at all, or just in combat?" Aburame asked quietly. I was almost startled by his voice; I hadn't heard him talk except for his brief introduction the day before.

Hatake-sensei looked pleased. "Now there's an intelligent question. Yes, you may use jutsu out of combat, if you feel the need to for whatever reason. But you may not set up traps or anything that could harm other teams at a later time. Any other questions?"

"Where are the other teams? Uchiha asked. He had a small smile on his face and looked rather...excited? It was odd, considering that I could only remember seeing him brood.

"They are with their sensei at specific points just outside the wall, being briefed just like you. You guys are just the lucky ones who got the gate. Oh, I recommend you stay off the roads though—they tend to be patrolled by bandits, and I wouldn't want my cute little students to get killed!"

I rolled my eyes at how excited Hatake-sensei looked at the prospect that we might get killed. The girl looked a little green at the thought, but the other two were indifferent. Hatake-sensei handed me a foot by foot piece of white cloth, almost like a silk handkerchief. It had blue lines sewn into, forming the rough outline of Fire Country, an X for Hidden Leaf Village, an X for where we were supposed to go, and a few lines representing lakes and rivers.

"That's a sketch map," Hatake-sensei explained. "It's the only map you'll have. Ready to go?"

As one, we nodded.

o-O-o

-6:30 AM, April 2nd, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village's Southern Gate-

At exactly 6:30 to the second, Team 7 set off at a brisk lope from the southern gate. As Sasuke and his new team passed into the wilderness they veered off into the grass so that they would stay away from the roads as Kakashi had warned. None of them wanted to risk stumbling across bandits, especially since they were forbidden from fighting.

As soon as they reached the trees, the Wildcard leapt up into them and jumped from one tree to the next, before abruptly dropped back to the ground with a sheepish look on his face.

"Sorry," he said. "I forgot you guys wouldn't know the tree climbing exercise yet."

"Sticking to things with chakra," Sasuke guessed. He had watched shinobi climbing walls for years with no success at replicating the technique. He had attempted to ask Mizuki-sensei how to do it once, but the Chuunin had immediately brushed him off, citing that he wasn't ready for it yet and would learn it when he became a Genin. Well he was Genin now, even if not officially, and he had someone before him who knew the exercise.

"Uh, yeah, it's a chakra exercise that allows you to stick to things like trees and walls with just your feet. Makes running through trees a lot easier and a whole lot faster," the Wildcard said.

"Teach us," Sasuke said.

Even though it was such a simple request, the Wildcard gave him an odd look. "Uh—"

Before he could respond further, the Mute broke in and said, "It would be advantageous to learn such a skill for this exam, Uzumaki-san. Running through trees would allow us to move at a faster pace, giving us a corner over our fellow examinees."

They all paused for a moment. "Er, do you mean an _edge_ over the others?" the Wildcard awkwardly pointed out.

It was hard to tell, but it looked like the Mute's cheeks might have turned red. He nodded silently.

Fighting a grin, the Wildcard replied, "Alright, I'll show you guys how it works, but don't expect to learn it in one go—it can take days to get down, depending on how much chakra control you have."

"We will need to take breaks regardless," reasoned the Mute. "Because this is an endurance race and not a sprint, I suggest we run in one hour shifts, with five minute breaks in between. During the breaks one at a time we can begin to use the exercise. This will prevent us from overexerting ourselves while giving us a chance to move ahead. Is this acceptable?"

Sasuke stared. He had never heard the Mute speak more than a few words at a time. He was not supposed to talk so much. Breaking out of his thoughts, Sasuke grunted an acknowledgment and the Fangirl was quick to agree as well—doubtlessly because he had agreed, not because she had used her head and actually thought it through herself.

"Yeah, sounds like a party," the Wildcard muttered as he scratched the back of his neck.

The group lapsed into silence as they moved on. They followed the road, just far enough away to stay out of sight. The sun was just beginning to peek through the leaves and the ground was soft beneath their feet. Only the Fangirl accidentally broke a branch every now and then.

Sasuke observed his teammates as they ran. He had found he could tell a lot about a person from their body language, running included. The Mute was methodical and practical. He dodged around trees and rocks. He chose the path of least resistance, probably to conserve energy. The Wildcard took the shortest path. He ran straight forward, pushing past whatever was in his way. If there was a large rock in his path, he would jump over it rather than move a foot or two to go around it.

The Fangirl looked as though she didn't know what she was doing. She kept stealing glances at Sasuke as they ran, and it was slowing her down. It puzzled Sasuke, actually. She had shown in front of Kakashi that she could be logical, but she abandoned all that in favor of fawning over him. Sasuke decided that people were strange and deserved to be avoided when possible. The Fangirl in particular was a potential hazard during a mission.

When the first hour had passed, the Mute pulled them to an abrupt halt. He sat down at the base of a tree and took out a water bottle. The Fangirl brushed dirt off a wide rock and then gingerly sat down. At least she was sensible when it came to keeping clean. Sasuke took a drink from his own water bottle. He twisted the cap back on, stopped, untwisted it, and then twisted it again. He paused for a second, and then repeated it one more time.

The Wildcard was watching him. Sasuke glared. "Teach me the exercise," Sasuke demanded.

"No 'please'?" the Wildcard said. Sasuke's lips tightened into a thin line. He would _not_ be goaded into getting angry. The Wildcard laughed, and then said, "Yeah, yeah; I already said I would. No need to get so uptight over it."

Uptight? How did wanting to improve as a shinobi make him 'uptight'?

The Wildcard walked over to the closest tree, an oak with a wide trunk, and placed a foot on it. "The point of the exercise is to gather just enough chakra in your feet to stick to the tree. If you use too much you'll get repelled, too little and you won't stick. The hardest part though is not figuring out what that specific amount is, but learning how to sustain that exact amount over a long period of time."

Without further ado the Wildcard took a couple of steps to the nearest tree and then walked up its trunk. About half way up he flipped through the air and landed on the ground.

Sasuke gave the tree a measured look. He strode up to it and put a foot against the bark. When he tried to walk up, the bark crack beneath his feet and sent him flying backward. He landed in a crouch and stayed that way for a moment, staring at the tree. This time when he approached the tree again he stood with one foot on the ground. With the other up against the tree, he experiment with different chakra amounts until he found one that made his foot stick to the bark.

"Run, don't walk," the Wildcard advised.

That didn't seem like logical advice to Sasuke. "Why?"

"Are your muscles used to walking vertically? No, they're not. If you try to walk gravity will pull your torso down, creating extra pull against your feet while you're trying to stick. You have to run while doing this exercise at first, until you get used to holding yourself in an upright position.

Sasuke nodded slowly. He had not considered that muscle training played a factor in the exercise. Perhaps that was why he had never been able to recreate the technique on his own—he had not had all the information.

Abruptly the Mute stood. "Five minutes have departed," he said, and then took off without waiting for a reply. Sasuke heard the Wildcard snort quietly as they followed.

They continued to follow that pattern for the rest of the day. Surprisingly, the Mute managed to master the chakra exercise first, after trying it three times. He quietly explained that he already had good chakra control, as it was a requirement for his clan. He didn't expand on that, so Sasuke guessed—not assumed, he reminded himself—that it had to do with his Bloodline Limit.

Annoyingly, the Fangirl was second in mastering the technique, leaving Sasuke as the last. He was not used to coming in last. The failure left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Determined to find out why he had yet to complete out the exercise, Sasuke demanded that the Fangirl tell him how she did it. She blushed and tittered, and then at last managed to say, "I learn well under pressure." Unsatisfied, Sasuke pushed until she said, "I probably have a lot less chakra than you, Sasuke-kun, so like Shino I stared out with better control."

"It's like a faucet," the Wildcard chimed in. "The higher it's turned on, the harder it is to control."

Sasuke turned to him. Pointless statements only wasted time. "What are you going on about?"

"Faucets. I thought that part was obvious."

"I think what Uzumaki-san is trying to say is that the less chakra you have, the easier it is to control," the Mute said.

The Wildcard nodded emphatically. "See, that's what I said! But anyway, it's been five minutes again so we should get going," he said.

Sasuke mulled over the conversation as they picked up the pace again. His pride wasn't quite satisfied by their explanations. Regardless, his pride would take all the beating it could if their advice would help him to grow strong enough for Itachi.

o-O-o

-7:00 PM, April 2nd, 312 TE-

-Unknown Location South of Hidden Leaf Village-

By the time the sun was starting to set, we'd made a lot of progress. Uchiha still hadn't mastered the tree exercise, although he could get about half way up a trunk now. He was like a rabid pit bull chasing after a Blue Jay when he wanted to master something. With a flinch I realized that statement reminded me a little too much of myself.

Just as we were beginning to talk about where to stop for the night, we came across what looked like an abandoned hunter's cabin. Part of the roof had collapsed in, but other than that it seemed structurally sound. I lingered outside for a moment, not at all trusting that another broken roof wouldn't try to bury me alive. Tokui brushed against my side and I took a second to pat his side, actually grateful for his presence. I'd never had someone stay around me for more than a few hours at a time, let alone live with me like Tokui did.

How sad was it that my first friend was a talking animal? A badass, chakra-wielding, talking animal, but still.

Still outside the cabin I said, "I don't know about this. It kind of stands out…."

"We need to get a good night's sleep," Yamanaka argued. "What if it rains?"

"We have tents—"

"But an actually roof is still better! I _need_ to get my beauty sleep, and if we happen across a gift like this, then why shouldn't we use it?"

"It could be a trap," Uchiha grunted.

Yamanaka quailed a bit under his gaze, but then suddenly folded her arms before her and thrust her chin into the air stubbornly. "We should stay here, Sasuke-kun."

The Uchiha and I exchanged looks. I held my hands up helplessly, having never had to deal with a stubborn girl—or girls in general, for that matter—before. Uchiha glared sullenly at me in return, although it was lacking any real heat. As one we turned to the silent Aburame.

"My bugs cannot detect any human passing in the area for quite some time," he said.

"See?" Yamanaka grinned triumphantly. "It's fine."

The inside of the cabin was slightly more dilapidated than the outside. Yamanaka quickly claimed an empty spot of floor beneath a window and began to lay out her sleeping bag. I poked around the one-room cabin, but found nothing of interest. The windows looked like they had once had glass in them, but now were nothing but empty sockets. The floorboards were rotting a bit, but there was just dirt beneath them.

Uchiha was standing in the middle of the messy cabin with his eyes closed tightly and his arms crossed over his chest. Either he was attempting to imitate a statue or… Actually, I had no idea what he was doing. Yamanaka kept shooting him concerned looks, so I assumed it wasn't normal for him to start a standing meditation session.

"My bugs have perceived something," Aburame suddenly announced. He was standing in the corner of the cabin, near where the roof had caved in. He leaned down and traced his finger along the wall next to the fireplace. "This is hollow."

Immediately Uchiha's eyes snapped open and he joined him. He pulled out a kunai and ran it along some kind of crack in the wall, trying to pry the wood away. He grunted at the effort and no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't come loose.

"The wood is different than the rest of the cabin," Aburame said. "It is healthier."

"W— Uzumaki," Uchiha said.

I glanced up briefly. "Yeah?"

"You've been a Genin for longer," he said. "Give us a hand."

Still no 'please', I thought, more amused by Uchiha's bluntness than anything else. I wondered how much it hurt his pride to admit I might be better than him. Putting my hands in my pockets, I strolled over to where the other two boys were standing. There was a wooden panel next to the stones of the fireplace that did look noticeably lighter than the rest of the wood around it. I rapped a knuckle against it, but it felt solid.

"It looks like it's a panel separate from the rest of the wood," Aburame pointed out. "But it's too tightly fit to pull out."

I tilted my head to the side as I stared at it, running the jutsu I knew through my head. They were hardly suited for something like this. "Your bugs can't eat through the wood or something?"

Aburame turned toward me. "…They are not termites," he said with a strangely stern tone.

"Eheh, right." I rubbed the back of my head.

"What about the chakra exercise?" Yamanaka asked from over Uchiha's shoulder. "Isn't it used for sticking to wood?"

I blinked in surprise. "That…actually makes sense." A second later I yelped as I dodged a strike from the girl. "Alright, alright, I'll try it."

Placing the tips of my fingers against the wood, I channeled chakra through them like I would for tree climbing. When I pulled my hand back a square wooden panel came with it, revealing a four inch deep compartment and a burst of dust. Uchiha coughed and immediately backtracked as far away from the dust as possible.

"It's empty," I said, a bit disappointed. "Isn't the point of having a secret compartment to keep something in it?"

"This place is been abandoned. Whoever used to live here already took everything," Uchiha replied, still coughing.

"Right, well, that was fun," I said with a shrug. Aburame had already wordlessly moved off to set up his own sleeping bag. I wondered if he was disappointed too.

"Wait, there's something there," Yamanaka said suddenly.

I looked back to the compartment, but it was still completely empty "Huh?"

"Not there," Yamanaka said with a roll of her eyes. "On the back of the wood."

Frowning, I turned the panel over. Sure enough, there was some kind of a symbol carved into the back. Even Uchiha came back over to get a good look at the symbol. My eyes widened as I recognized it as being like the symbols from the underground compound Takauji and I had found. I quickly looked back at the empty compartment.

What was something from that compound doing out here, in an abandoned cabin on the other side of Fire Country?

"It looks like old writing," Uchiha said.

I looked up and found that he was looking at me suspiciously. I smoothed my expression over and shrugged. "Dunno. I've never seen old writing before." That did remind me that it was entirely possible it was unconnected to the compound. Just because it was the only place _I_ had seen the writing, didn't mean that other things had survived the Jūbi's War.

For a moment I wondered why I was hiding my knowledge about the writing. Yes, I had promised Takauji that I wouldn't say anything about the compound, but telling my teammates that I could recognize pre-Tsuyoi Era writing wouldn't give that away. There was no real reason to hide it from them. But there wasn't a reason to tell them either.

In that second I realized I might have a problem with trust.

In the next second I realized that I didn't really care.

I tossed the panel to Uchiha and turned away. From the corner of my eye I saw him snort and drop it. We all set up for the night, passed around a few ration bars, and decided on what order we would take watch. Aburame suggested four hours of rest so that we could each take watch for one hour. Uchiha then immediately demanded to have first watch—undoubtedly so that he could continue to work on the tree exercise. I shrugged and agreed, keeping my eye on the overturned wooden panel the whole time.

Uchiha woke me an hour later when it was my turn to stand watch. I stood at the door for my hour, alertly watching and listening for the sounds of anyone approaching, but nothing of any particular interest happened. Tokui joined me for part of the hour, but we didn't speak in case any of the others heard. If that happened then the least I would have to worry about was them thinking I was crazy. Plus if Hatake-sensei really was watching, he might suspect it had something do with the Kyuubi. I was under enough suspicion as it was without adding that to the list.

When my time was up I checked to make sure that everyone was asleep, slipped the panel with the symbol into my bag, and then awoke Yamanaka for her shift. Once she was standing sleepily just outside the door, I drifted back into sleep.

o-O-o

-2:00 PM, April 4nd, 312 TE-

-Unknown Location South of Hidden Leaf Village-

Day two of our exam passed without incident. We came close to a few small villages and farms, but always managed to stay away from human contact. Early in the morning Uchiha mastered the tree climbing exercise, so with a little practice my teammates were soon flying through the trees like overgrown squirrels.

The problems came on the third day. By mid-afternoon time we were all pretty much sick of each other's company and hadn't spoken a word to each other in hours. Well, that meant Aburame and Uchiha were just acting like normal. Yamanaka was looking sullen and for once _wasn't_ staring at Uchiha.

I thought I was going to go insane from all the silence. Long periods without talking made me jumpy, and reminded me too much of long years in my empty apartment with no one but myself to talk to. If I'd been taking this exam on my own, I would probably be talking to myself aloud by now to stave off such silence.

"I am uncomfortable," Aburame said abruptly. I nearly missed the next branch out of surprise. The boy didn't lead in with a thoughtful hum or even a cough or something—he just spoke, as though we were in the middle of a conversation.

"Umm," Yamanaka said.

"I am uncomfortable with the atmosphere," Aburame continued. "And there is an animal following us."

Uchiha's head whipped around. "What?"

"A large animal," Aburame added.

I winced. Tokui wasn't as hidden as I'd thought then.

"How long has it been following us?" Uchiha asked.

Aburame shook his head. "It is inconceivable to say. My bugs are having trouble detecting it, though I do not know why."

"Impossible to say," I absently corrected while thinking fast. "What if it's related to Hatake-sensei or whatever other Jounin are out there?"

"I…do not know. It is possible, as it is clearly not a normal animal," Aburame replied with a frown.

"So do we just leave it alone?" Yamanaka asked anxiously.

I shrugged, though they probably couldn't see it while we were running. "I don't see what else we can do. We were forbidden from fighting or even talking to animals, right?" I said. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not interested in failing."

If the cloth map Hatake-sensei had given us was right—and I wouldn't put it past him to trick us—then we should be converging on the finish line soon. I hadn't said anything to the others, but I found it odd that we hadn't even run into any other teams yet. If there were eight of us leaving from Hidden Leaf Village and heading to the same place, our paths should have crossed at some point. Had being able to run through the trees really made that much of a difference?

I caught a flash of movement from the corner of my eye. When I turned my head, I just saw Uchiha running alongside me, staring ahead with that same pinched expression he often wore. The days of travel must have been getting to me.

When I saw the movement a second time I knew it hadn't been a fluke. With one hand automatically reaching toward my shuriken pouch I opened my mouth to say something, and then— Nothing.

o-O-o

A/N: Bell test? What bell test?

Kakashi's brief explanation that they're in four-man teams because they are "raising the bar on what it takes to become a shinobi" is complete bullshit meant to forestall questions from them, so don't take it at face value. Or at any value at all. In fact, you should really take anything Kakashi says with a grain of salt. The actual reason will be explained in full detail at a later time.

The next interlude will be up soon because I can't wait to post it. I 100% guarantee that no one will be able to expect what's going to happen in it ;)

Happy reading!

—SR

_It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.  
_-Graham Greene


	13. Interlude IV: Orochimaru

Posted: August 1, 2012  
Last Updated: May 14, 2013  
Chapter WC: 913  
Story WC: 50,578

* * *

Worth Dying For

Interlude IV  
_Orochimaru_

* * *

The room was made entirely from dark stone. The ceiling was low, almost as though it was pressing down, ready to collapse on the room's occupants. Darkness hung in the corners, thick and tangible, unable to be driven away by the torches that lined the walls.

In the center of the room stood Orochimaru, head rolling back languidly as he stood loosely. The floor around his feet was covered in black seals that spiraled out away from him in simple curves and circles that were made up of more intricate designs. Directly before him, five feet away, was a circular black mark, four feet across. Three similar circles were in behind him and on his sides; one for each of the cardinal directions.

Within each of the circles knelt a sacrifice, bound and shivering. Young shinobi, without enough chakra to be useful for anything else. They couldn't even begin to see what good they were doing here, what an _honor_ it was for their feeble lives to be used to take this step forward.

Orochimaru's eyes snapped open. There was a charge of chakra in the air now, sparking across his skin and making his hair stand on end with a delightful quiver. His tongue flickered across his lips and his eyes glittered with excitement. The power seemed to seep into him, filling him pulsing energy just waiting to be released. It swirled through his blood and settled in the marrow of his bones. There was no thrill in this world like the touch of death.

"Summoning," Orochimaru intoned. The sudden sound sliced through the silence like a whip, and all four of the sacrifices flinched. Orochimaru's smiled widened. "Impure World Resurrection."

The sacrifices screamed. Their voices mingled with the rumbling that suddenly shook the dark room. The seals on the floor lit up with chakra, and then a bright purple light began to swirl on the floor before Orochimaru. As the rumbling and the screams reached a crescendo he tilted his head back, closing his eyes and relishing in the pure _power_ that whipped around him. It was heat and ice and soft and hard simultaneously and left him feeling heady and breathless and wanting to drink in _more, more, more_.

The whole room shuddered as the sacrifices thrashed in their places and then suddenly burst into white ash. Before him the shifting shadowed portal widened and two simple wooden coffins rose from the floor. With a last pulse of that smothering chakra the purple light faded and the seals evaporated along with it, leaving only the coffins and a panting Orochimaru behind. The Sannin shivered as the last vestiges of power disappeared, leaving him empty, aching, and cold in its wake.

The lids of the coffins creaked and then fell to the floor with twin thuds. Standing motionless within the coffins were two figures with muted gray skin and dull, dark gray sclera. The first was a boy, short with light brown hair and a Leaf forehead protector. The other was a man, late twenties with long, pale blue hair and also a Leaf-nin.

As he stared at the blank gaze of the boy, Orochimaru felt the small twinge of emotion, like a mosquito bite. _Student, Genin, responsibility._ His gaze flickered to the man. _Annoyance, foolish, soft, wasted potential._

He turned away while ignoring the feeling of twisting, yearning _loss_ in his stomach that was byproduct of the jutsu. One step closer; one step toward power.

o-O-o

She was waiting in the designated clearing, alone. Not another soul for miles. Orochimaru's lips formed a laughing greeting as he landed a few feet away. She looked exactly like she had the last time he'd seen her, a decade ago. Young features, soft skin, hard eyes. She was shifting in place, hands clenching and unclenching. A ripple of muscle and she could turn a boulder into fine power. Such power hidden behind a demure appearance—steel behind silk.

"Orochimaru," she barked. No familiarity, no warmth. Just cold steel. A warning, a threat. And hope, thinly veiled by false bravado.

"Tsunade," he replied easily, tone soft and smooth.

The two resurrected shinobi land behind him, one on either side. For a moment Tsunade didn't react. She just stared, eyes blank and mind empty. Orochimaru didn't exist to her anymore—he could calmly walk up and slit her throat and she wouldn't even react. He stared at the pale expanse of vulnerable skin as she swallowed thickly.

There were tears in her eyes now, spilling over and streaming down her face. A sob ripped itself from her throat and then she was shaking and trembling, lost and overcome by such _emotion_ that Orochimaru felt like he was wading through a sea of it. The other shinobi ran forward and both surround her, murmuring while she sobbed and rambled and _felt_.

Orochimaru watched impassively. The impenetrable cold that had been driven away by the summoning had returned. It seeped into his bones and drained him of amusement and passion. He looked on disinterestedly at the reunion. _Foolish woman. Wasted positional, drowned by emotions and useless sentiments._

At last she stopped, still shaking and holding the man and boy against her. "Dan, Nawaki…" she mumbled, and then looked up at him with such _gratitude_ that it was all he could do to keep a sneer of disgust off his face. "Thank you. Orochimaru, I…" She trailed off into another shudder.

Orochimaru turned and walked away. She followed.

o-O-o

A/N: -insert evil laughter here-

For those of you who aren't aware, Orochimaru was Nawaki's Jounin sensei and was there on the mission when the boy died, technically making him responsible for his death.

—SR

_There was something awesome in the thought of the solitary mortal standing by the open window and summoning in from the gloom outside the spirits of the nether world.  
_-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


	14. Chapter 9: Trust

Posted: July 4, 2012  
Last Updated: July 10, 2012  
Chapter WC: 8,646  
Story WC: 59,241

Warning: The following chapter contains an explicit torture scene and excessive use of language.

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 9  
_Trust_

* * *

-Unknown Time and Date-

-Unknown Location-

I woke up to darkness. My breath was stifled and warm against my face, and after a second I realized that there was some kind of a hood over my head. It was cold and damp. With a jolt I jerked forward and tried to scramble up off the cold cement floor, but found my hands tied behind my back. I tried again to stand up, only to be stopped by a voice.

"Sit back down."

I froze for a moment, and then slowly dropped into a crouch. I couldn't tell where the speaker was, let alone where _I_ was or how I'd gotten there.

There was a scrape of metal that I thought might have been a chair being pushed back or door opening, followed by the swish of clothing. There was a beat of silence in which I could hear nothing but my own quickened breath, and then abruptly there was a hand gripping the collar of my shirt, yanking me up. They spun me again and pressed me against the wall.

"Stay," the voice said coldly. I tensed, readying to lash out against them with my feet, but froze again when they tapped the back of my knee, clearly aware of my intent.

What in the hell was going on? We'd been running. I was running and saw something and then… Had we been captured by someone? But why? We had been well within Fire Country's borders, and the nearest country with a hidden village was across the Hanguri Bay. Or was this supposed to be part of the test? It seemed like something that Hatake-sensei would do when he was in one of his more sadistic moods. But the man pressing me up against the wall definitely wasn't Hatake -sensei.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"I am a proud shinobi of Hidden Leaf Village," the man said. "And you, Uzumaki Naruto, have been arrested for treason."

Shock hit me like an electric shock and physically forced the breath from my chest. For a second I couldn't say anything at all, couldn't even pull air back into my lungs, then finally I spluttered, "What? What the hell are you talking about!"

"You left the village without notifying a superior. As a registered shinobi, that classifies as intent to commit treason. Where were you heading? To another hidden village?"

"That's bullshit," I growled. "We were sent out of Hidden Leaf Village _by_ Hatake-sensei, for the Genin exam."

"Genin exams take place within the village walls," the man said monotonously.

"Hatake-sensei—"

"Hatake Kakashi is the one who reported your absence. I suggest that you do not try to get out of this. Just tell us the truth; everything will go smoother that way."

A hysterical giggle bubbled up from my throat. There was no way this was happening. If anything, Hatake-sensei would have come after us himself—

Unless this was part of the exam. That idea was becoming more and more likely.

I said as much to the man behind me and he laughed. "We are not in the practice of loaning our hunter-nin out to test _Genin_," he sneered. "And nor will your pitiful attempts to direct blame away from yourself help your case any. In fact, I highly recommend that you keep your mouth shut until we ask you to speak."

"I haven't committed treason," I snapped.

"You left by choice," a second voice said from my right side. A cold blade was pressed against my neck just beneath the edge of the hood. It would have been more threatening if I could die, but it also gave me a very important piece of information—that this wasn't sanctioned by the Hokage, who knew of my quasi-immortality.

"I've done nothing wrong," I said, more confident now.

"We'll see about that. Any time you wish to tell us the truth, just say so."

Grinding my teeth, I kept my mouth shut. This was probably a test of loyalty, I thought. The Academy had briefly gone over how to handle interrogations and the main point was to never answer any questions except for the essential six: name, age, rank, blood type, next of kin, and registration number. Just by talking to the men holding me I'd broken that rule and if this really was a test, then I'd have to start doing better.

The first man pulled at whatever was binding my hands, releasing them, and then fastened two cold manacles on my wrists. I instantly recognized them as chakra restrainers. Where were the ones I usually wore? "Place your hands flat again the wall," he commanded. "Try to move and we'll kill you the spot."

Once I had done so, he nudged my feet apart so that I was standing about two feet from the wall, leaning forward against it in what our Academy teachers had called a 'stress position'. Something clicked in the background and then suddenly the room was filled with a loud static white noise.

I was left like that, the wet hood still over my head, for god only knew how long. It didn't take more than an hour to grow bored. There was nothing to do and I didn't dare move for fear of failing the exam. Unless the point was to break out… But there was still at least one person in the room—I could occasionally hear the sound of shifting clothing thought their breathing was completely silent—and a brief testing of the chakra restraints had proved that they were strong enough to prevent me from channeling any chakra outside my body. If there was any chance of me getting out of here, it would only come when or if my captors made a mistake.

And still I was left up against the wall. An hour passed. Then another. My mind wandered, but it was hard to think of anything with that blaring white noise in the background. I tried to ignore it, but it had an extremely annoying way of worming its way into my head. Before long it was starting to make me go more than just a little crazy. More hours passed at a mind-numbing crawl of a pace.

I had no way of knowing how long I'd been there for. The room was lit with artificial light and no one came or left. I'd been hungry for what felt like a day now and despite my extreme stamina, my legs were starting to burn from being held in the same extended position for hours and hours.

It must have been at least a day by now, right? Being held here was disorienting. They could have at least let me sit down or do something. Weren't they going to interrogate me? Why had no one come?

Time crawled by.

God, why were they just leaving me here? Someone had to come eventually. Even torture would be preferable to this. And that fucking noise! People said that silence was deafening, but I was starting to think it was peace. And still no one came.

Was there still someone else in the room? Maybe they had left and I could just sit down. Even if someone was there, it wasn't like they could do anything to me. I'd just heal if they tried to hurt or kill me. And that pain would certainly be preferable to this mind-numbing boredom.

Time crawled by.

But what if they failed me for it? There was no way in hell I could fail. I may have been given a free pass on becoming a Genin, but I had proved that I was good enough to be a shinobi and I was going to prove that I could last through this. I knew it was supposed to be mentally stressing, and I knew that I could make it through it.

If only they turned off that white noise. God, it was starting to echo in my ears! I would literally cut off my right hand to make it stop. Though that would probably mean a bit more if I didn't know that my hand would regenerate.

Time crawled by.

When the door finally opened again, my shoulders sagged in palpable relief. Someone jerked me away from the wall and shoved me into a cold metal chair a few feet away. My hands were forcibly placed on an equally cold metal table, palms down. The hood, which was somehow still damp even after countless hours, was left on.

"What's your name?" a rough new voice across from me asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"And you're a shinobi of Hidden Leaf, Naruto?" the man asked. I stayed silent. "Where are you from?" I still didn't reply; the question wasn't one of the essential six. "I asked you where you're fucking from!"

"I can't answer that question," I said firmly, using the line they'd instructed us on back in the Academy.

"What's your age then, kid?

"Twelve."

"Still a baby, eh? No wonder you got caught so easily. I can hardly even believe you're a shinobi. You're just some wet behind the ears kid playing with kunai, aren't you?" I said nothing as I stared into the darkness of my hood. "I asked you a fucking question kid. Or can't you even answer that?"

"I can't answer that," I said.

"I shouldn't be surprised. I've told the Hokage we shouldn't be letting children roam around. And you didn't even pass the test. You're a sob story the Hokage let by because he likes you."

My hands pressed against the table. The Hokage had _not_ let me pass for a reason like that. I had _proven_ that I was good shinobi.

"You didn't even notice when our hunter-nin picked you up, did you?" the man sneered. "You're a piece of shit shinobi if you couldn't even notice them coming. But you already know that you're a piece of motherfucking shit, don't you?"

I pressed my hands down even harder until my wrists were digging into the edge of the table. "I can't answer that question."

"Of course you can't. It's a miracle you can even think for yourself. Or is someone else doing the thinking for you? Did someone contact you while you were still in the Academy? Tell you they could get you through to be a Genin? You clearly couldn't do it yourself. You couldn't perform a single motherfucking jutsu. You failed your last two exams, didn't you? I can hardly believe you could even throw a kunai. Who was it that contacted you?"

I said nothing this time. There was no was no way I was going to let this man rile me up. I wasn't going to fail this exam.

Abruptly the man slammed his hands down onto the table, making me jump. "Answer the fucking question!" he snarled. "Who contacted you? What did they offer you? A chance to make it in the big league? A way to become a shinobi when you clearly couldn't make it on your own? Or did they just offer to be your friend? You don't even have a friend. How pathetic is that? No one likes you in Hidden Leaf Village. No one wants you there. You've been alone your entire life. Hell, even your parents didn't want you. They just dumped you off on some doorstep and ran like hell. You're fucking worthless to Leaf, you know that?"

"I can't answer that question," I said lowly. My nails were starting to dig into the table.

The man laughed loudly. "Of course, you already know why. You're a _jinchuuirki_. A part of the demon within you. You're a fucking walking time bomb, a danger to everyone around you. That's why we picked you up so quickly after you left. You're on our red list. A danger to the village. The Hokage had us bring you in. He doesn't trust you, doesn't trust that you won't turn against the village. And why wouldn't you? You have no one back there. No family, no friends. Your neighbors hate you, your local grocery store hates you. Hell, people you've never even met fucking hate you. The demon killed their parents and children and friends. The demon that you could become.

"You remember your Academy instructor, Umino Iruka? The demon killed his parents. And Hatake Kakashi? The demon killed his sensei. You really think the two of them liked you? That they _cared_ for you? No matter what they've said, every time they looked at you, they saw the demon. You're a walking reminder who what they've lost."

I swallowed thickly. I didn't want to believe what this man was saying. I knew he was just trying to break me down. But that didn't change the fact that the Nine Tails really was inside me.

"You think they want to teach a piece of shit like you?" the man pressed on. "Umino was relieved when you left the class. He didn't have to teach a moronic dead last fucker any more. Morale in the class shot up after you were gone. The rest of the students could have fun and Umino didn't have to worry that you might suddenly turn into the demon anymore.

"Of course, Hatake still had to deal with that threat. You wonder why he kept such a close eye on you? The Hokage ordered him to. You were a security threat. No one in the village could trust you. They were just thankful that you were such a failure as a shinobi. The Hokage thought that maybe if they put you out on active duty sooner, something might 'happen' to you while you were out on a mission. It would be easier for everyone if they didn't have to deal with you. No more looking over their shoulders, no more fearing the demon or the worthless little boy carrying it."

This man was pretty good at finding a person's weak spots, I thought. He'd pounced on all of mine—my lack of family and friends, the Nine Tails, my 'free pass' to becoming a Genin. But I'd lived my entire life alone, struggling to become a shinobi. There was no way in hell I was faltering here, no matter how low this man made me feel.

"So tell me, if you know you're so worthless, why do you keep trying?" the man continued. "Why don't you just stop and tell us the truth—that you're a fucking traitor. The Hokage will go easy on you, if you confess. Why did you leave? Why did you turn on Hidden Leaf Village?"

I continued to keep my silence. Then suddenly there was a searing pain stabbing through my hand, forcing a choked gasp from my lips. The man released the kunai he'd stabbed me with straight through to the metal beneath my palm, leaving it pinning my hand to desk.

"Answer the fucking question you motherfucking piece of shit!" he bellowed. "Why did you betray Hidden Leaf Village? Who are you working with?"

When I didn't say anything, he stabbed a kunai into my other hand. The continuous pain shot up my arms, but it was nothing compared to actually losing a hand or being stabbed in the chest.

"Ready to answer yet?"

After a beat of silence, the man used a jutsu that lit the tips of my fingers on fire. Being one of the most sensitive parts of the human body, needless to say it hurt like _hell_. I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood as a spasm ran through my hands, unable to move away from the source of the heat.

"Tell you what," the man said casually, as though he wasn't in the middle of a torture session. "If you admit that your Genin teammates left with you, I'll lower your sentence. I'm sure that we can tell the Hokage it was a case of peer pressure. Your desire to fit in and have friends was the driving force, right? You just wanted them to like you, so you went along with their plans. You're the victim in this."

The heat rose and I couldn't stop another pained gasp. Just because I could heal from anything didn't mean I couldn't _clearly_ feel the pain.

"I would never…betray Hidden Leaf…Village," I said between short breaths. "And neither…would they."

"You sure about that?" The man laughed and the heat rose even more as the fire slowly crawled up my fingers. The rancid smell of cooked flesh seared my nostrils and I forced back a gag. The slowly building pain was far worse than if he'd just cut off my fingers and let me bleed out. "You can make all of this stop. You just need to tell the truth. No one will blame you. You're just the poor orphan boy, burdened with the demon. They'll understand if they hear your story. Just tell us the names of the Genin who went with you. That's all we need to know. Just admit what you did. You want to admit it, right?"

God, this was beginning to become unbearable. I'd been caught in explosions before, but while that pain was worse than the pain of being burned, it was instantaneous instead of being dragged out over not just seconds, but minutes. The fire was past my second knuckles now. It was literally cooking the flesh off my bones.

"I can keep this up all day," the man said in a bored tone. "I wonder how long the fire will take to reach your torso. It will be an eternity, I suppose. But I've got all the time in the world—at least until you tell me about your teammates. Just tell me their names. What are their names?"

"I can't tell you that," I pushed out through gritted teeth. Beneath the hood my eyes were beginning to sting. God, it really might be easier to give in. But I couldn't. I couldn't fail, I just _couldn't_.

The man pushed back his chair. I heard him walking around the table and then chains snapped around my ankles, binding me to the chair. I tried to move man hands then, but found that I couldn't even push them against the kunai pinning them down. It had to be some kind of jutsu.

"Let me know when you're ready for it to stop," the man said.

The door slammed shut behind him and a small whimper escape my lips. Even if I couldn't die, being slowly burned alive was _not_ how I wanted to spend my day. This was like a nightmare to me—trapped and in eternal pain, with no way out. Could they really do this for a test? Had the Hokage told them about my healing? What if they really left me like this? Would I be able to stand it for that long?

Tears burned in my eyes and a series of repressed sobs ripped themselves from my throat. My stint against the wall seemed like a paradise now. If it had felt like hours and hours then, this felt like weeks. The fire crawled up my hands and then my wrists as a snail's pace, moving in the barest increments. I could hear no movement from anyone else and no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't get out of the chair. I was deeply regretting having not fought back when they'd first captured me. The test couldn't be worth going through this kind of pain, it just couldn't.

But I didn't speak up, even as the fire started to work its way up my shaking arms. My determination was warring against my self-preservation, which had been dormant most of my life up until this point. All they wanted to do was hear the names of my teammates. It wasn't like I owed my team anything; I barely knew them. They were just some kids from the Academy. Yamanaka had always mocked me when I'd been in class and Uchiha still had his damned holier-than-thou attitude. They weren't worth this kind of pain.

I opened my mouth, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I didn't owe them anything, but they were my teammates. What kind of a shinobi would I be if I turned on them?

I was a good shinobi, I insisted in my mind, even as half of me scoffed at my teammates. I was a good shinobi and I was loyal to my village. If I had to endure being slowly burned alive for them to prove that, then I would.

It was better than the white noise, at least.

I felt my mind slowly growing numb as the pain continued. I had thought that in a situation like this I would grow hyper-aware or something, but instead it seemed that that long forgotten self-preservation was kicking in and dulling my senses.

An eternity later, when the fire was at least three to four inches up my arms, the door opened again. The sound of the scraping metal was immediately followed by several shocked and horrified gasps. I heard the sound of running footsteps, followed by someone throwing up. Simultaneously the fire went out and the hood was removed from my head.

I blinked in the sudden light. My gaze blurred and the world around me seemed to spin, a combination of the extreme pain, mental and physical exhaustion, and lack of food. I slowly turned my head to look toward the door. Hatake-sensei was standing there, looking grim-faced but proud. Next to him Uchiha and Aburame were staring at me in shock. I assumed Yamanaka was the one who was still throwing up. I couldn't blame her.

I watched blankly as a medic-nin approached me, removed the kunai pinning my hands, and began to cover my third degree burns in a thick, cool salve and bandage them. I felt blank and sluggish, like I was watching the world from underwater. I vaguely recognized this as the onset of shock.

"Congratulations," Hatake-sensei said. "The four of you have passed."

"What the hell…?" Uchiha managed to say. He covered his mouth and nose to ward off the stench.

"All three of you were placed in various torture and interrogation sessions that were suited to your particular psyches," Hatake-sensei said. "You were asked one thing: to give up your teammates and save your own skin. All four of you lasted 12 hours in a stress position, followed by two hours in an interrogation and torture session. And all four of you did not give up your teammates. In the world of the shinobi those who violate the rules and laws are called trash. However...those who don't take care of their comrades are worse than trash. Today you four proved yourselves of being both capable shinobi and comrades."

"What did you do to Naruto?" Uchiha asked slowly.

"He stood up for you even while being slowly burning alive," Hatake-sensei replied. "Physical stamina is Naruto-kun's strength, and his weakness. He'll be fine once he recovers."

"But how can you…" Yamanaka said faintly from behind them. Then she turned away again and proceeded to dry heave.

"What about the rest of the exam?" Aburame asked softly.

"That was all false. You were the only Genin given this exam; you were told it was a race purely to motivate you. You're a special case for several reasons."

"I assume Genin being handed over to an experience interrogation squad is not normal procedure," Aburame said. His generally flat voice had a hint of emotion.

"It was sanctioned by the Hokage, if that's what you're asking," Hatake-sensei said cheerfully.

"I think I should be angry with you," I said. My voice was slurred and I blinked lethargically at my teacher. "That…hurt."

"But it proved your loyalty to the village," Hatake-sensei replied.

It went unsaid that my loyalty had been under question by the Hokage. If I'd been able to think more clearly I might have been angry, as I'd said. But at the moment through the haze of my mind the only thought I could summon up was that I'd have done that same thing if I had an immortal, untested warrior under my command. I'd get angry later.

"I can't feel my fingers," I noted with a frown.

"Your nerves have been burned away," the medic-nin said as he finished wrapping my hand. I was already starting to regenerate beneath them. I ignored the odd, itching sensation of my skin and muscles re-growing and blinked down at the medic-nin, recognizing his voice as one of my first interrogators. He wasn't the one who had set me on fire though.

There was a clink of metal below me. I slowly looked down and watched blankly at Uchiha removed the chains around my ankles. Aburame kneeled on my other side and undid my other ankle. When they had finished Yamanaka helped me to stand.

"This feels weird," I mumbled.

The medic-nin said, "That salve will keep your burns numb—"

I shook my head sluggishly. "Not that," I slurred. "The whole team thing. It's weird…"

Yamanaka smiled nervously. She still looked a bit green. "We'll get used to it eventually."

I blinked at her. "You're nice."

"And you sound drunk," Hatake-sensei said, clearly amused. "I think it's time you went to sleep."

I didn't resist as the medic-nin put his hand on my temple. His chakra washed through me and my eyes drooped close and the world around me faded away.

o-O-o

-7:00 AM, April 9th, 312 TE-

-Naruto's Apartment-

Tokui was not happy with me when I got back to Hidden Leaf Village. I couldn't tell whether it was because he missed my chakra or had actually been concerned. He also wouldn't tell me why he hadn't helped when we'd been taken by the hunter-nin, other than to snort and give me a pointed look. Either way he circled around me for ten minutes after I crashed in my apartment, feeding off my chakra until he was satisfied. I think he would have purred like a contented house cat if he could.

Nearly a week after the Genin Exam I was awoken to a pounding on the door. As I blinked blearily, I realized that I'd fallen asleep on the couch. "Mmh comin'," I called as I tried to roll off the couch—and right onto Tokui, who I belatedly realized was almost twice the size of said furniture. Lying next to it, Tokui made it look more like it was fun-sized.

Temari, my messenger bird, trilled from the open window where she usually sat. As Takauji had said, she took care of herself, coming and going as she pleased and finding her own food. It felt more like she was humoring me than being an actual pet.

As I clambered over him, I nudged Tokui and whispered, "Come on, you need to disappear." He grumbled, but slunk off into my bedroom even as he used his disappearing trick.

At last I opened my door. And then stared. And then slowly blinked, sure I was still sleeping, because there was no reason for Hatake-sensei and my three disgruntled teammates to be standing outside my apartment.

"Uhh…"

"Good morning, Naruto-kun!" Hatake-sensei said as he casually pushed past me. Uchiha, Aburame, and Yamanaka followed him in a line like little ducklings.

"Any particular reason why you're here?" I asked blearily. "I thought we weren't back on active duty until Monday."

Hatake-sensei flopped down onto my couch and put his heels up on the table. One of its legs was shorter than the other three, and it dipped beneath his weight. The other three stood around awkwardly. Uchiha looked like he wasn't quite sure what to do with his hands.

"I have news from above," Hatake-sensei said.

"Right, that tells me exactly why you're _here_."

Smiling, Hatake-sensei replied, "You have your own apartment, so I got the other first."

"So does Uchiha," I pointed out.

"Sasuke-kun," Hatake-sensei corrected. "You're teammates now! And you just so happened to be the last I came to collect."

"Can we just get on with this?" Uchiha muttered.

I sighed and rubbed my temples, then walked into my kitchen. Without a word to my team I began to make some tea for myself, so that I could at least wake up while Hatake-sensei spoke in riddles.

After a minute of silence, Hatake-sensei said, "You four will be moving in together."

I almost dropped my cup and my sentiments of "_What?_" were echoed by the rest of my team.

"It has been decided that in order to build teamwork and camaraderie, you will be sharing a four bedroom apartment for the foreseeable future," Hatake-sensei said. "We have already cleared this with your parents—Shino-kun, Ino-chan—and the Hokage's office has leased out an apartment for your use. Outside of training and missions you will be free to do whatever you wish during the day—such as training in family jutsu—but you must sleep in the apartment. Your team will be your family now."

"I can't live with three boys!" Yamanaka protested.

Hatake-sensei dismissed her concern with a wave of his hand. "You'll all have separate rooms."

I could hardly believe what he was saying. "Hold on, let me get this right," I interrupted. "Are you saying that the Hokage's office is giving us the apartment? As in, we won't have to pay rent for it?"

"Yes, that's right. Though if you break anything you'll have to pay to have it fixed," Hatake-sensei warned.

All I could think was that by not paying rent I would be quadrupling my savings at the very least. "When do we move?" I demanded.

"Hold on, why should I agree to this?" Uchiha said angrily.

"It's for teamwork—" Hatake-sensei started to say again.

"We can work at a team just fine during the day," Uchiha snapped. He was glowering at all of us. "I am going to live with—with slobs!"

"Oi, I'm not a slob!" I said. "It's organized chaos—I know exactly where everything is."

Uchiha actually looked speechless for once. His mouth opened and closed twice, then he shut his eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Do we really not get a say in this?" Yamanaka asked.

Hatake-sensei's visible eyebrow rose. "Well you could always quit being a kunoichi, if you wanted to. Otherwise, no. As your Jounin sensei, my order is law, and my order is that you will be living together. Any other questions?"

"When do we move?" I repeated. If it was before next week I'd be able to skip out on next month's rent. If tit was after next week… Maybe I could move all my things into the forest until we did move, so that I still wouldn't have to pay next month's rent—I could easily put up with that for a week or two.

"Today!" Hatake-sensei replied cheerfully. Clapping his hands, he jumped up from my couch. "Since we're already here, we'll start with you, Naruto-kun. Pack everything up, bring it to this location, and then start on the next house." As he spoke, he handed me a slip of paper with an address on it. His hand writing was surprisingly neat; I'd expected him to have more of a chicken scratch scrawl.

"Why don't you just show us—" I looked up, but instead of seeing Hatake-sensei, there were just the left over wisps of smoke from his _shunshin_ drifting through my living room. "Seriously? He's just going to leave us to do it on our own?" I asked with a growl.

Yamanaka sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I'm starting to regret having him as a sensei."

"Just wait until he starts teaching you," I retorted. Holding back a sigh of my own, I glanced around my small apartment. "Eh, I guess we should get started them."

"I am _not_ touching your things," Uchiha said with an arrogant sniff.

Instantly Yamanaka sidled up to him and said, "But Sasuke-kun, we're supposed to work together!"

Having no desire to get in between Uchiha acting stuck up and Yamanaka's fangirl-ing, I turned to my kitchen and started to take things out of the cabinet, only to suddenly stop.

"Wait, what am I supposed to pack everything in?" I asked.

"I believe Kakashi-sensei has left us some cardboard boxes to use," Aburame said. He gestured toward the door where, sure enough, there was a stack of flattened boxes. "And Sasuke-san, if you prefer you and Ino-san could move on to your apartment to begin there. It would put a gash in the work."

It took me a second to understand what Aburame meant. "It's 'split the work up,' Aburame-san," I said. Uchiha, meanwhile, looked as though he was honestly torn between having to touch my things and dealing with Yamanaka, who was still making doe eyes at him.

Shaking my head in silent amusement, I began to work on packing away my things. The kitchen was easy enough to start with since I mainly ate ramen, bread, and milk. Meat, being extremely expensive, was a rarity and only eaten when I killed something myself out in the forests. I did find a single old cereal box in the back of one of my cupboards that I didn't recognize though. That didn't speak well for just how old it must have been. Aburame began to help me without a word while Uchiha looked like he was having a stroke as he inched near the fridge.

In due time we packed up my kitchen and living room, including the odd assortment of weapons, empty ramen packages, and old socks I had lying around. Surprisingly, it wasn't the mess that Yamanaka commented on, but rather the state of my furniture.

"This leg is different from the others," she said as she gaped at my kitchen table. "Did you _glue it on_?"

I shrugged. "Hey, it works doesn't it?"'

"But it—" She struggled for words. "Why didn't you just get a new one? Or at least get it fixed!"

I grunted as I stacked another finished box in the corner and said, "It was already missing a leg when I found it."

"Found it?"

"Yeah. It was in a dump. That's where I got most of my stuff. Except for my couch—that came with the apartment," I answered.

Instantly Uchiha recoiled from the table, looking horrified. "You've been eating off _garbage_?"

Straightening up, I frowned at him. "It's not garbage, just—recycled. And it was free, which is what matters." When he continued to look as though I'd just killed his puppy I said, "Hey, not everyone has a clan fund to live off—I only got a small stipend a month from the civilian orphan fund, and now that I'm a shinobi I don't even get that. I couldn't afford luxury items like 'undamaged tables that don't smell like cabbage.'"

My new teammates looked distinctly uncomfortable at the reminder that I was a poor orphan. Or at least Yamanaka did. Uchiha was still staring aghast at my table and Aburame was continuing to pack. I wordlessly went back to taping close another box—until a scream shattered the silence.

I whirled around, half expecting to find my apartment overrun by enemy shinobi, but all I saw was my open bedroom door and Yamanaka on her back, scuttling away from it.

"There's _something there_!" she shrieked. "I—I touched something! And it was_ warm_!"

Oh shit. I winced as the girl continued to babble. In my excitement about not having to pay rent, I'd completely forgotten about Tokui. And now—

"Yamanaka-san, it's okay," I said, trying to calm her.

She whirled around to face me. "What the hell was it?" she demanded.

I sighed heavily and scratched the back of my neck, seeing no way out this, especially if I was going to be living with them. "I have an, er—pet."

"Call me a pet again and I'll rip your throat out," Tokui growled as he stalked into the living room, quickly fading back into view.

Yamanaka shrieked as again and whipped out a kunai. As Tokui shot her an unamused look, I pressed a hand to her wrist, lowering her arm.

"It's okay," I assured her again. "This, well, this is Tokui. He's a tiger summon."

Tokui sat back on his haunches. He was towering over us, even Aburame who was the tallest. As always, his presence made my living room seem small.

"How did you get a summon?" Uchiha asked, frowning fiercely. His fists were clenched at his sides.

"I didn't 'get him'," I retorted. "We're in a contract, which is a mutual agreement of trust and…something."

"Acceptance," Tokui finished for me as I trailed off into silence. There was a dry note in his voice.

"Yeah, that."

"Tokui-san was following us during the Genin Exam," Aburame said suddenly.

I nodded. "Yeah, that was him. He can make people not see him or notice him," I said. "I would have said something sooner, but well… Tokui is kind of a secret. Summoning contracts are generally hoarded."

"Where do you get such a contract?" Uchiha asked.

"You don't just get one. I happened to find and help Tokui, we came to an agreement, and that was that. He's staying with me though because he feeds off my chakra."

Yamanaka put her hands on her hips and stared me down. "And you weren't going to _ask_ us about it? We're going to be there too, you know," she said.

I put my hands up in a placating gesture. "It hadn't really come up yet, okay? I—"

My mouth struggled to form the words. Now that I thought about it, I had never in my life actually asked for permission for something before. Even with Hatake-sensei I generally did what I wanted, then dealt with whatever consequences came later.

"Would you guys mind if Tokui stayed with us?" I finally ground out.

"I don't know," Yamanaka crossed her arms before her. "We might not have enough room."

"I am fine with it," Uchiha said, still eying the tiger. Aburame nodded as well.

Yamanaka instantly wilted. "If you think it's a good idea, then of course I agree, Sasuke-kun," she said.

I rolled me eyes. Could the girl ever think for herself, or was she dead set on being a soulless doll for the rest of her life?

"I thank you," Tokui said with a bow of his head. "If you will excuse me, I shall be sleeping until you are finished." Slinking around us, Tokui lay up against the wall, beneath the sunny window, and proceeded to close his eyes and ignore us.

We returned to packing up and were able to swiftly finish the rest of my apartment. I owned a lot less than I'd expected, amounting to six whole boxes, plus various pieces of 'recycled' furniture. After a last check through my empty apartment Uchiha, Aburame, and I each grabbed a box.

"I am _not_ lugging one of those around," Yamanaka said. She plucked the paper with our new address from my front pocket. "Of course Kakashi-sensei didn't give us a map. Hmm, I think I know where this street is though. I'll lead the way."

"Really? Just leave us to do the work?" I said.

"It's called delegating," Yamanaka said with a sniff. "You're better at physical strength, I'm better at planning and organizing. So I'll direct you where to go and make sure everything goes smoothly."

Yamanaka was looking at Uchiha and blinking rapidly while she spoke. I rolled my eyes at the obvious attempt to impress him—which he was steadily ignoring by staring at a wall.

But ultimately, going along with her—for the time being—would make this go a lot faster than forcing her to work too. And the box I was carrying was damn heavy. "Fine, whatever, let's go," I grunted.

Yamanaka smiled widely at me.

o-O-o

-10:00 AM, April 9th, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Central District-

My—our—new apartment turned out to be a spacious flat in downtown Hidden Leaf Village, about ten minutes away from the Hokage Tower. Each of the four bedrooms was as large as my living room had been, and the living room was almost as big as my apartment.

As big as it was, four twelve year olds moving in by themselves was far from easy. We managed to hire a wagon to move our furniture eventually, but the whole day was something I'd rather not repeat. Well, except for seeing Uchiha show his perfectionist side as we packed his things. Or _tried_ to pack his things—ultimately he ran us off and did it himself.

Our new living room and kitchen now consisted of a mix of Uchiha's furniture and mine. Mostly Uchiha's. He had literally burned my table with his fire jutsu, and outright rejected everything but my couch and toaster—and the couch was pending a thorough cleaning.

"Haven't you told Kakashi-sensei about Tokui-san yet?" Yamanaka questioned as we finished moving in the last of the furniture.

I groaned and resisted the urge to bang my head against a wall. "No, not _yet_. And I'd rather not at all, if I have say in it. It would only complicate things and there's no real reason for me to tell him; Tokui has no impact on my life as a Genin right now. I'll tell him, just…eventually."

Yamanaka gave me a doubtful look. "Well are sure Tokui-san is okay? He's been sleeping a lot. And isn't he…" She lowered her voice and sent a glance at my new bedroom door, where Tokui was hiding out and sleeping. "…_blind_?"

"Yes, he's blind, but he can see using chakra. Don't ask me how; I just know it's something to do with the ambient chakra that's in everything. And he's 'sleeping a lot' because he tends to sleep in the day and stay up at night," I said while rubbing my temple.

Uchiha sent us both a glare as he walked into the kitchen with a box. "Are you going to help or just stand there like imbeciles?"

Yamanaka instantly flocked to his side with offers to help or even do all the work for him. It was like a never ending game of cat and mouse, with Uchiha as the mouse.

I turned to get back to the work, and then jumped a foot in the air and started to curse when I found Hatake-sensei standing in the doorway. "All set up?" he asked.

"Thank you for your assistance," I growled.

He grinned widely. "All right, gather round my cute little students!" he called out.

Uchiha and Yamanaka returned from the kitchen and Aburame appeared from down the hall, where he'd presumably been unpacking his things. He'd had the least of us to pack and very little furniture since he lived with his family. Yamanaka did too, of course, but she somehow managed to have more than Uchiha and I combined anyway.

"Why is there only one bathroom?" was the first thing Yamanaka demanded of our sensei. "I'm a girl! I need my own bathroom!"

Hatake-sensei just continued to smile. Pretending as though she hadn't spoken at all he said, "We will still be resuming active duty on Monday. I want you four to take the time until then to get to know each other better. And for now, I'd also like to go over the results of your Genin Exam."

My teammates automatically looked at my hands. Apparently I had been the only one to undergo physical torture; for everyone else it had either been a Genjutsu or mental torture. It was understandable, but I still glared at Hatake-sensei and put my hands in my pockets. I'd exhausted myself spending an hour raving at him for his 'exam' a couple of days ago, but that didn't mean I was no longer angry.

Ignoring my glare as easily has he usually did Hatake-sensei said, "You proved to be up to the standards that I'm willing to teach. You may have noticed however that the exam did not test your fighting abilities. Allow me to explain why: 80% of the missions you'll go on as a shinobi will not involve combat. You can spend months gathering intelligence and performing surveillance without speaking to another living soul. Most Genin have a hard time understand this—you all want the action and the fights and the glory. But more often than not, that's not what being a shinobi is about. And if you do want to rise through the ranks to get to the point where you go on those missions, then you have to do well on the ones given to you now.

"As such, the first part of your exam tested purely your survival and navigation abilities. I wanted you to show me that you could work together and move to your target in a swift but sensible fashion, and you did so. I was quite impressed that you even managed to learn a chakra exercise at the same time. I planned to save that for a few weeks down the line, but I suppose it's as good a start as any.

"The second part, as you know, was interrogation. The first portion of that was intended to disorient you. The second half was to break you. I've very proud that you all succeeded. You will all be strong shinobi one day—if you survive that long. Of course, it's my job to help you do that. You are not allowed to tell your fellow Genin about your exam; it's classified as a B-rank village secret. It's rare that we use such an exam on Genin, but it should say a lot about how your training is going to go. Starting Monday you will be reporting to training ground #7 every morning at 6 AM. You'll have an hour lunch break at 11, then training until 8 PM. When I decide you are ready, you'll start taking D-rank missions in the morning or early afternoon."

"What free time do we have?" Yamanaka asked quietly.

"None, if you're training properly," Hatake-sensei said. "You are to leave with your teammates, come home with your teammates, eat with your teammates—you will do everything together. If you have a problem, go to your teammates first before coming to me. Understood?"

We all mumbled out a reply. Then a kunai flew threw though air and embedded itself in a wall, making us jump.

"You are shinobi now. When I ask you a question, I expect you to answer properly," Hatake-sensei said, sounding sterner than I'd ever heard him. "Understood?" he repeated harshly.

My teammates and I automatically straightened and answered, "Yes, sir," in unison.

This was the first time I'd ever seen Hatake-sensei so formal. He'd always been so laid back with me. A moment later he smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning back and looking much more like the Jounin I'd come to know.

"There we go," he said cheerfully. "I suggest you get settled in."

Silence reigned for a minute after the door closed behind Hatake-sensei. Then Yamanaka sat down with a sigh and said, "Well if we're going to do this, then let's get some things straight. _None_ of you are allowed near my room. You'll have to ask if you want to come in, Sasuke-kun." She smiled brightly and Uchiha rolled his eyes.

"I suggest we speak about our interrogation experiences to grow closer as a team. It will make our time here more bearable," Shin offered monotonously.

"That's…" Yamanaka squirmed uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I'm not really the sharing type," I said dryly. Again they looked down at my hands, but this time I just raised an eyebrow. I was already mostly over what had happened—trust issues aside—though the experience had definitely topped my Naruto Pain Scale. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it turned out to be the most painful experience I ever had.

"Why did you do it?" Uchiha suddenly asked.

I turned to him. "Huh?"

"Why didn't you give up? You were literally burned alive. That's…"

I shrugged and scratched the back of my neck self-consciously. "I was determined, I guess. I wasn't going to fail," I said with another shrug. "There's a chance we'll face a similar situation in our shinobi careers anyway. I for one would rather know that I can withstand torture and interrogation, even such a relatively short session, so that I know I could go through again at the hands of an enemy."

Yamanaka shuddered. "I would never want to do something like that again. My father prepared me for how to withstand torture, but the real thing is so different…"

"Your father?" Uchiha frowned.

"He's an interrogator," Yamanaka explained. "The Yamanaka family jutsu are geared toward interrogation." Uchiha stared at her, clearly surprised. She blushed under his gaze.

"They targeted loneliness as my weakness," Aburame said suddenly, "My clan's lives are based around community, so I have never really been alone my entire life."

He looked at Uchiha expectantly, but the other boy immediately looked away.

"Umm… They k-killed the people I love in front of me." Yamanaka stared down at her hands while tugging at the edge of her skirt. She whispered, "It was so realistic, I thought…"

A pregnant silence fell between us. Uchiha was still staring at the wall and staunchly refusing to say a word. I would have been more than happy to let him keep his silence—I certainly hadn't told them most of what had occurred during my 'session', but at that moment Tokui stepped out of the hall, where he'd apparently been listening to our conversation.

"I suggest you speak, boy," Tokui said quietly. "If you do not, the silence will continue to stretch between your teammates until it becomes a palpable gap. If you are to work together, you cannot afford such discord. It is worth anything to have someone you trust wholly guarding your back, believe me on that if nothing else."

"I have no reason to say anything," Uchiha snapped.

I gave Uchiha a considering look, honestly fascinated by his reaction. It sounded like he had even bigger trust issues than I did—something I wouldn't have thought possible before today. It wasn't just his pride preventing him from speaking; that much was immediately obvious. His expression was drawn and pinched, and his shoulders were hunched forward. He looked rather like a wounded animal trying to hide itself. I had to cough and look away at the mental image of Uchiha as a cat with its tail puffed up.

Uchiha glanced at me from the corner of his eye at the sound. When I met him stare for stare he frowned and then, for no apparent reason, began to _glare_ at me.

"They made me believe someone was there who I did not want to see," he said in a clipped tone without breaking eye contact.

A look of understanding dawned on Yamanaka's face, and then morphed into the sort expression that one would give a lost puppy. But to my surprise she didn't fawn over him or reach out to him like she normally would—instead she just looked away. That was…unexpected. I glanced between Uchiha and Yamanaka thoughtfully. There was obviously some kind of story here, beyond Yamanaka's usual fangirling. The question was…did I care? I scratched the back of my neck and figured that no, I really didn't. I'd be pissed if Uchiha tried to dig into my personal business so I wasn't quite hypocritical enough to dig into his.

"So," I said aloud, "who wants ramen?"

o-O-o

A/N: I'm slightly concerned over how people will take this chapter since it is so much darker than most of the story, but there it is, for better or for worse. The interrogation scene (and in fact most of the Genin exam) was inspired by/drawn from the SAS selection exam. A lot of the details (ie the wet hood, standing in stress positions for long periods while inundated with white noise, etc) were taken from it.

A secondary note on this chapter: Way back when I was first planning this story, I was initially going to make it so that Chuunin are required to live together in military bunks in order to detach their dependence to their clans and build comradery. I might still bring that up at a later point, but for now it works perfectly for what Kakashi/the Hokage are doing with Team Kakashi. It should be pretty obvious by now (4-man team, abnormal Genin exam, living together) that the way they are treating Team Kakashi is not normal in the slightest, and it's not just because of Naruto's regeneration abilities.

I received a PM asking about romance in this story and whether there will be yaoi or not, so I'd like to take a moment to reiterate what the summary says: There will be no pairings. In general, I don't tend to even _read_ stories with pairings. It's pretty creepy to read about 12 year olds trying (and failing) to have relationships, especially since 90% of them seem to be along the lines of "You're my soul mate and we're obviously going to love each other forever despite having no real idea what love or romance is due to our age and living in a society in which having a single partner for an extended period of time is unlikely at best and unfeasible at worst." And that's not even taking into account the kind of effects their society would have on the mechanics of a relationship. Hell, I can't think of a single shinobi in the series who is married or has a long-term partner, except maybe for Sarutobi, and his wife is dead. Long-term relationships are pretty much expected to be extremely rare in a shinobi world where people can die on any mission, and the trust of your partner is a valid concern.

So no, no romance. And to repeat what I also said in that PM, that means no romance yaoi or otherwise. I'm not a yaoi fangirl—it's not something I read, never mind write—so even if there was a pairing in this story it still wouldn't be yaoi. Any further questions about pairings will be ignored or pointed in the direction of the summary.

Happy reading!

S.R.

_An invincible determination can accomplish almost anything and in this lies the great distinction between great men and little men.  
_-Thomas Fuller


	15. Chapter 10: Speechless

Posted: July 13, 2012  
Last Updated: July 13, 2012  
Chapter WC: 5,555  
Story WC: 64,796

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 10  
_Speechless_

* * *

-9:00 AM, April 13th, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 7-

"Good morning my little students," Hatake-sensei said with his eternal, undying cheerfulness. He had to be taking some sort of pills; it was the only explanation for his moods.

"You're late," Yamanaka ground out between her teeth.

"I warned you," I pointed out from where I was sitting beneath a tree, sharpening my kunai. Hatake-sensei had never once been on time for training in the six months that I'd known him.

Yamanaka spared a moment to glare at me before turning it back on Hatake-sensei. She crossed her arms, thrust her chin out, and then said, "Well? What jutsu are you going to start teaching us?"

"Now, now, it's your first official day as a team. You should be more excited!"

"We just spent the weekend together," Uchiha said blankly. "They smell. And Naruto snores."

"Oi, that's not true!" I protested. I would have known if I snored. Probably.

Hatake-sensei waved all our comments off, his damnable smile never so much as faltering. "Before we start on anything else, I want to review survival techniques," he said. "Yes, yes, I know that you took several years of survival classes in the Academy, but that doesn't make it any less important. What does it matter if you know a jutsu that can blow a hole in a wall when you die half way to your target?"

I put away my kunai and the piece of gray sandstone I used as a sharpener while wearing a faint frown. Hatake-sensei had never gone over survival techniques with me. But really, I'd be fine without them. With my stamina and healing, I could probably set out from Hidden Leaf Village and keep walking in any direction for any length of time without any real problems beyond discomfort and/or pain. But now I couldn't just continue to rush headlong into problems—I had to actually remember that my teammates could die. I'd never had to worry about that with Hatake-sensei.

"First of all, we're going to make sure that you all have proper survival kits," Hatake-sensei continued.

"Survival kits?" Yamanaka parroted.

Hatake-sensei pulled out a small storage that was about half a foot long and an inch thick from his back pocket. "Something like this," he said. "You should always have it on you, even when at home in the village. You never know what could happen at what time and you don't want to get caught with your pants around your ankles."

Hatake-sensei laid the scroll out and activated it with a swipe of his hand . We leaned forward to see an assortment of objects that appeared with a poof of smoke. One by one he began to pick them up and explain.

"First, waterproof matches—"

"Why would I carry matches when I can use a fire jutsu?" Uchiha asked. He sounded curious rather than stuck up, for once.

"If you're behind enemy lines, you might not be able to use chakra without calling attention to yourself," Hatake-sensei replied. "You should always be prepared to forgo using chakra, be it in a survival situation or in a battle. If you don't, and suddenly you don't have chakra to fall back on, you could very well be screwed. A lot of samurai and bandits believe that shinobi are helpless so long as they don't have chakra—don't prove them right. Not to mention that any chakra sensor worth their salt will be able to sense the use of chakra in a jutsu—even something like a chakra spark technique to create a fire—from a mile away.

"So, waterproof matches. Useful for just about anything, including lighting fire under the asses of unmotivated students. Next, a candle." Hatake-sensei held up a short, square candle and used it as a pointer as he spoke. "This one is made of tallow, which I recommend because, being made of fat, you can eat it in an emergency."

Yamanaka made a face at that and I resisted the urge to snort. Apparently the girl was on a 'diet', which was hands down the most absurd thing I'd ever heard a kunoichi say. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she came from a shinobi clan with the way she acted.

Not noticing my veering train of thought, Hatake-sensei continued, "Don't bring a tallow candle with you into the desert or any hot climates though, because they won't keep well in such temperatures. And next up… Flint! This is optional, because you can probably use a kunai to create sparks, but if you really want to be prepared it's still a viable resource. Fourth would be needles and thread, which I already spoke to you about before your Genin exam. You can use them for anything from sewing your clothes to stitching human skin.

"After that we have a few loops of shinobi wire, a heliograph for signaling, and then a compass—preferably liquid-filled like this one. I also have a chakra stone. These are a bit expensive, but they are just about everlasting and a great source of light." Hatake-sensei held up a small, white crystal that was about the size of coin and glowing noticeably even in the daylight. He placed it back in the tin and then took out what looked like a chain at first, until I noticed the small metal teeth running along it. "Next up is this flexible saw, which also has a variety of uses. And of course then there's your basic medical kit with antibiotics, antihistamines, water purification tablets, etc., etc.

"Along with that you should also pack a few of these small surgical blades, which can make much more precise cuts than shuriken or kunai, and a couple of plasters and butterfly sutures. You may not need these if you have a medic-nin with you, but if they get killed then you'll have to heal yourself. "

"Should we pack bandages as well then?" Aburame asked.

"No," Hatake-sensei replied with a shake of his head. "They take up too much room. A small storage scroll like this—and you want a small one, so that you can always keep it on your person—can only hold so much mass—and you can just use your clothing if you need to. The only time you should pack extensive medical supplies is if you're a medic-nin or if you know for sure that you'll be wounded on your mission and unable to reach medical aid. Or you can take the option that some shinobi do and wear bandages on your arms so that you can cut a section off if you need them."

That made my eyebrows rise. I knew several people who wore bandages on their arms or legs at all times and I'd always thought it was just a fashion statement of some sort. I supposed for some it was, but it was interesting to know that it served a practical purpose as well.

"The last items you should pack in this survival kit are these flares—" Hatake-sensei held up a handful of small green and red tags. "—And of course rations. I also recommend salt tablets, as salt and other minerals are a very important part of your _diet_. Of course, you'd know that from the Academy."

The Jounin smiled at Yamanaka as he finished, and the girl at least had the decency to blush embarrassedly and look away. Perhaps she wasn't quite so stupid after all.

"Any questions before we proceed?" Hatake-sensei asked.

"When are we required to have these items?" questioned Uchiha.

"By tomorrow of course! I'll be checking then, so if one of you skips out then you'll all be staying back for an overnight training session," Hatake-sensei said in a singsong tone of voice. The idea of overnight training didn't seem to bother Uchiha, but I'd already had enough of them to wince at the threat. "Now that that's all set, let's get started with the real work."

The wide grin on Hatake-sensei's face, just barely visible through his mask, was all the warning we got before his foot slammed into my face and sent me flying through the trees.

o-O-o

-8:00 PM, April 20th, 312 TE-

-Team Kakashi's Apartment-

Yamanaka crashed face down onto the couch, Uchiha staggered over to a chair, and Aburame just slid down to the floor near the door. Crossing my arms before me, I raised an eyebrow as I surveyed my exhausted team.

"So am I stuck making dinner again?" I asked.

"How are you still standing after that?" Yamanaka asked, her voice muffled by the couch cushion. "It's unnatural."

I let out a short laugh as I walked into the kitchen and called over my shoulder, "I never claimed to be natural!"

It had only been a week since Hatake-sensei had started training us and he'd already completely worn out the other Genin. I was pretty sure that at this point I could poke Uchiha with a stick and he wouldn't so much as glare at me. There was a pretty good chance that Hatake-sensei had gotten too used to my insane pace of training, which normal kids my age couldn't keep up with. I had an ongoing bet with Tokui about whether our sensei would make one of them collapse or if he'd realize it and adjust their training in time.

It took me about ten minutes to make four bowls of ramen. Yamanaka in particular had been vocal in her disapproval of the glorious food when we'd first started living together, but two days of coming home from Hatake-sensei's brutal training regime had given them all a healthy appreciation for how quickly and effortlessly ramen could be made. By the time I was done Uchiha had managed to drag himself to the table, but I had to bring Yamanaka and Aburame their bowls.

"You must have gotten used to training with Kakashi-sensei," Uchiha said abruptly.

"Huh?"

"It's the only explanation for how you're not tired," he continued. "You've gotten used to it."

I shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Just wait until Hatake-sensei puts us on the mission roster—then you have to train _after_ you're already exhausted from running around all day."

Uchiha frowned. "What type of missions can we expect?" he asked.

"Eh, anything really. They start most Genin off with basic errand-type stuff like walking dogs, grocery shopping for the elderly, cleaning up the training grounds, random manual labor, etc. Once you get a bit more experience you get to moved up to things like chasing down wild animals, guarding civilians, and the eternally boring surveillance missions. You won't be seeing any action for at least a few months, trust me on that."

I expected my words to get at least a scowl from Uchiha, but instead I found him staring intently at the table. Looking down, I found a couple spilled drops from my ramen.

"Oh, whoops," I said as I wiped them up. Instantly the tension drained from Uchiha's shoulders and the iron grip he'd had on his chopsticks relaxed.

Curious about his reaction I watched Uchiha, but he didn't seem to have noticed. I lifted my chopsticks and let a few more drops of liquid drip onto the table. Immediately Uchiha's gaze snapped to them and the tension returned.

"Huh."

I wiped up the spill again, and again Uchiha immediately relaxed. Once more I lifted the chopsticks, but like a striking snake Uchiha's hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"Don't you dare," he hissed.

Slowly a grin spread across my face.

"Aww, is Uchiha-chan a neat freak?" I asked with a wide grin. His glare grew heated and he released my wrist slowly, as though it physically pained him to resist the urge to punch me.

"I am _clean_," he said forcefully. "I will live in a _clean_ house with _clean_ teammates."

I raised an eyebrow. "Or what?" In a flash there was a kunai in his hand and a rather maniacal gleam in his eyes. "Alright, alright!" I yelped. "I got it, clean, clean." My words seemed to sate his inner beast for the time being, and I ambled from the room with my food, mumbling about kunai-happy neat freaks under my breath.

o-O-o

-8:00 PM, April 25th, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 7-

As we left the training grounds late one evening after training, Hatake-sensei pulled me back so that we were walking a few paces behind my teammates. I waited but at first he just continued to walk along without saying a word. It wasn't until we were halfway back to my team's apartment that he finally spoke up.

"I'm concerned."

I paused and stared. I looked up, but sky was still there, stuck in place. I looked down, but saw now fire and brimstone. The world hadn't come to an end? But then… I returned to staring at Hatake-sensei. "What?"

"I'm concerned," he repeated blithely, as though the statement wasn't the antithesis of everything he was and a sure sign of the impending apocalypse, "about your Taijutsu."

"My Taijutsu?" I blinked slowly, and then scowled when I abruptly realized that I was probably being insulted. "Hey, my Taijutsu isn't _that_ bad! I mean, it's loads better than it used to be—"

Hatake-sensei nodded. "Yes, but it's only marginally better than a third year Academy student's and a fair deal worse than your teammates'. Your form is passable—it's your speed and strength, your physical body, that's not."

My scowl morphed into an angry glare, then faded into thoughtful confusion. "I train for hours every day; just as much, if not more, than my teammates," I said. "How could my physical ability not be up to par?"

"I don't know," Hatake-sensei admitted. "Logically, with your stamina, your physical ability should be above that of your teammates. It's concerning _because_ it is illogical. The main thing that sets you apart from your teammates and other people is the Nine Tails, so it's possible it could have something to do it. It could be somehow weakening your muscles."

I did double take at that. "So, what, the Nine Tails is poisoning me or something?"

Hatake-sensei shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not; it's only a theory cobbled together from scraps of knowledge. We will probably have to get a Seal Master to look at your seal to figure it out. In the meantime, when your teammates work their conditioning training in the mornings, you will be working on your chakra control instead."

"What? Why?" I asked with a blink.

"Most upper-tiered shinobi supplant their personal strength and speed by enhancing their muscles and bones with chakra. It's a technique you'll probably never be able to use due to the sheer control it requires, but hey, it's worth a shot, right?"

There was an insult buried in his words, but my head was spinning too much from this new information to catch it. If Hatake-sensei was right and the Nine Tails was doing something to me, then it essentially meant that no matter how hard I worked, I'd always be swimming against the current. I'd have to do four times as much work just to catch up to my teammates, if I could ever catch up at all. A grim frown settled on my face. In the end, it wasn't really anything new; I'd always had to work harder than the people around me to earn the same fate.

o-O-o

-10:00 AM, April 29th, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 7-

Our first mission as a team came early one morning. It was a simple grocery shopping mission, but I couldn't bring myself to care in the face of the knowledge that after a month of nothing but training I would _finally_ have money in my wallet again. There was nothing more beautiful in the world than the sight of a full purse.

Of course, anything 'simple', Hatake-sensei had to take and twist and warp until it was an actual challenge—and an exercise in patience.

"You will also have a captain for this mission, and every mission you go on, though who it is will change every time," Hatake-sensei explained. "You are to listen to your captain's orders and follow their directions without question, regardless of who it is. In return, however, the captain will be responsible for the outcome of the mission. If it fails, the responsibility and punishment will rest on their shoulders. Understood?"

"Yes sir," we all said.

I raised an eyebrow, surprised by Hatake-sensei's words. On all the missions I'd been on, rank had always determined who led the mission—which meant it was always a Jounin or a Chuunin. I'd never heard of a Genin leading a mission before.

"So, who to start with… Shino-kun! You'll lead today. Your mission objective will be to buy all of these items and deliver them to the client," Hatake-sensei said. We all exchanged a glance as he handed Aburame a long shopping list. "Now for the next part of the mission…"

He held up four explosive tags—no, not explosive tags, I realized as I got a good look at them. It was definitely some kind of seal, but I'd never seen it before. Hatake-sensei handed them out to us, and then tapped his own throat, right over his Adam's apple.

"Place them here. They'll stick on their own," he said.

Mimicking my teammates, I placed the seal on my throat and immediately felt a tingle of foreign chakra run across my skin. I grimaced at the constricting feeling, and then opened my mouth to ask what they were—and no sound came out of my mouth. Instantly I tried to rip the seal off, but as I scrapped at it I found that I couldn't get purchase on its edges.

Hatake-sensei laughed outright at the shocked expression on my face and explained, "These are silencer seals. They're keyed to my chakra and will keep you from speaking until I choose to take them off."

I glared at the sadistic Jounin. Harsh training was one thing, but taking away our ability to speak? What sort of purpose could that possibly serve? Hatake-sensei was like the living, breathing definition of schadenfreude.

"You will keep these seals on for the foreseeable future and learn how to communicate with each other without words. Today for your mission you will have to use simple gestures to work together and this afternoon we'll start on the basics of hand signals," he continued. He made a shooing motion with his hands. "Now let's get moving."

The mission was…not fun, to say the least. We trudged along to the location of the grocery store that we'd been given with Hatake-sensei humming as he followed along behind, his nose shoved in his little orange book. Yamanaka looked the most annoyed out of all of us. Uchiha, on the other hand, looked almost thoughtful about the exercise. I realized that it was a chore to guess what was going on inside his head. I had never really interacted with him during my time in the Academy, but he was turning out to be different than I remembered him being. Maybe it was his apparent obsession with cleanliness... Or at least that he wasn't _quite_ as much of an asshole as I remembered.

Either way, it was Aburame who looked the least bothered out of all of us. He did make a good leader, I thought. Minus the whole creepy bug thing, of course—but that was a given. I'd grown up around enough bugs and cockroaches to not care much about them, but the thought of having bugs crawling around inside your body was enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies.

When we arrived at the grocery store the first thing I noticed was that I had never been to that particular one before. It was about the size of the ground floor of the Hokage Tower, only with shiny white walls and rows and rows of shelves filled with packaged food. The first shelf in front of me was filled with instant ramen and my mouth watered at the sight. Aburame stopped in the front of the store and suddenly tore the shopping list into four pieces. He handed one piece to each of us, and then pointed to were a store clerk waiting near a register. We all nodded, silently agreeing to meet there together when we were done. I was glad, at the very least, that that part of the mission didn't require any talking, regardless of whether or not we were able to.

o-O-o

-12:30 PM, April 29th, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 7-

"Your next lesson will be in hand signals," Hatake-sensei said after we'd turned in the mission, had a break for lunch, and then returned to the training grounds. "This will be your first step in learning how to communicate without speaking. Once I feel you're all doing well enough we'll move on to lip-reading."

I groaned silently. I thought we'd have finished with this sort of stuff when I'd left the Academy, but evidently not. Hatake-sensei gave each of us a small scroll that he said contained a list of the hand signals we'd be learning, but instructed us to put them away for now while he went over them.

"First are some of the basic ones that you probably already know," he said. He held his hand out toward us, palm forward. "This means halt." He moved his hand horizontally, so that his palm was facing the ground. "This means get down." He flipped his hand so his palm was facing up. "And this means take to the trees." He crossed his index and middle fingers on one hand. "This means there's an obstacle ahead—"

It continued on in this vein for a while, proceeding from field signals to actual words. My head was starting to spin just a few minutes into it. Were we really expected to remember all this? And even actually _use_ it? The pained expression on Yamanaka's face said that she felt about the same about this as I did. Uchiha actually looked _interested_, as horrifying as that was.

The hard part, however, came later in the evening, after we'd been put through the ringer by Hatake-sensei. The four of us kept trying to speak, forgetting that we couldn't. By the time Yamanaka and I had had a soundless argument over who was making dinner—complete with arms waving and silent yelling—I was about ready to rip my throat out just to get the seal off me. I _hated_ silence, and forced silence all the more. My only solace was that Tokui still spoke—well, laughed at us, but still.

Over the next few weeks we continued to train and complete basic D-class missions—all without the ability to speak. The first few days were hell, but after that it sort of fell into a normal rhythm as we figured out how to get our point across. It became easier as we really started to learn how to read lips of course. I grudgingly had to admit that Hatake-sensei's methods were effective, but I'd never in a million years say so to his face, especially not after seeing how much fun he had torturing us.

o-O-o

-6:00 AM, May 13th, 312 TE-

-Unknown Location-

I woke up to sun shining on my face. I grunted and rolled over, wondering who the hell had come into my room and opened my blinds, only to feel a sharp rock digging into the small of my back. Squirming away from it, I squeezed my eyes closed tightly. I must have fallen asleep outside while training again. How odd; I hadn't done that since before I'd been placed on Team Kakashi.

Something shifted nearby and my eyes snapped open. An inch away from my face a small beetle was making its way through the grass. Beyond it I saw the prone forms of my teammates, slowly waking up. In an instant I was up on my feet in a crouched position—and then was jerked back onto the ground when something pulled on my arm. There was a manacle on my right wrist where my chakra suppressor usually was, only this one had a two foot long chain connecting me to a similar one on Aburame's left wrist.

My teammates were all taking stock of our situation as well. It was a sign of how long we'd been unable to speak that none of us even opened our mouths. Uchiha and Yamanaka were chained together just like Aburame and I, and for once Yamanaka didn't look happy about it. She didn't really have any expression at all on her face, actually; she looked blank and impassive. On the other hand, Uchiha had gone ashen, like someone had just told him his family was dead. His eyes kept darting around as though he expected to be attacked at any moment.

Once it was clear that we were all unharmed, I turned my gaze on our surroundings. We were in the middle of a tall, sparsely wooded forest. I didn't recognize the trees as being the same ones around Hidden Leaf Village—these were shorter and thinner, with lighter bark. The branches looked like they would snap if someone tried to jump through them. There was no one else in sight and I could hear birdsong around us, which hopefully meant we'd been alone for a while. Of course, that still left two glaring questions: Where the fuck were we and how had we gotten there?

The last thing I could remember was going to bed after a long day of training and having to babysit a bunch of brats for a D-rank mission. I couldn't remember anyone coming in the night to take us, if that was what had happened. But why hadn't Tokui stopped them? And why had we been just dropped off here? Aburame was rubbing his forehead, probably denoting a headache. Had we been drugged then? Drugs rarely ever worked on me, unless I was dosed with lethal concentrations. Whoever had kidnapped us had to have known _exactly_ how much to use to get us to all wake up at the exact same time.

Suddenly Aburame tapped my shoulder and then motioned for me to turn around so that I was facing away from him. When I did he pulled off a piece of paper that had apparently been taped to my back. We all gathered around and read, _Pop quiz! Find your way back to Hidden Leaf Village._ Beneath that was a little cartoon drawing of Hatake-sensei holding up a peace sign.

Seriously? That fucker! I began swearing violently aloud, ignoring the fact that no one could actually hear what I was saying. Hatake-sensei should have been my first thought when we woke up; it was just like him to pull something like this. I wouldn't be surprised if he was still out there in the trees right now, watching us and laughing, and shook my fist at the sky to tell him exactly how I felt.

_Next?_ Aburame signed to us with his hands, followed by a hook of his pinky finger that indicated a question.

Uchiha still wasn't quite looking at any of us, and Yamanaka looked as though she'd been dipped in ice. _Water,_ the blonde haired girl signed, _food, location._

I nodded. _East, sea,_ I signed back. Yamanaka stared at me blankly, so instead I resorted to the more unreliable lip-reading we'd been taught—at present all of us had only about 70% accuracy with it—and mouthed, _If we keep moving East we'll hit the coast_. It took a moment for her to figure out what I meant, but as soon as she did she quickly nodded her agreement—if we reached the sea we'd have a better idea of where we were and where to go.

Abruptly I realized that Aburame was shaking. It was a small tremor, almost unnoticeable, but running through his entire body. I hesitated for a moment and then tapped his shoulder. Aburame looked up at me, but it was impossible to tell what his expression was behind his sunglasses and high collared jacket. He held up his hand, the one that wasn't chained to me. There was another manacle there, just like the ones I usually wore. But those were suppressors…

A cold chill ran down my spine. _He wouldn't…_ I rammed my chakra through my tenketsu, desperately trying to mold my chakra, and then choked when I rammed into a metaphysical brick wall. I pushed harder and harder to get my chakra out but I was still being held back and couldn't even push my chakra out of my body and oh god what were we going to do without any chakra at all—

Yamanaka flicked my forehead. I blinked and stared at her with wide eyes, but she just gave me a pointed look. With a grimace I realized I'd been panicking over my sudden inability to use chakra. A glance around confirmed that Uchiha and Yamanaka were also wearing the suppressors—suppressors which were a whole lot stronger than the ones I usually wore for training. Hatake-sensei had effectively stripped from us the ability to use chakra.

_Scout_, Yamanaka signed to Aburame, ignoring my plight. I'd apparently been the last to notice the suppressors, because I was already so used to wearing a pair.

With a nod, Aburame held up his arms and a few of kikaichū—much, _much_ fewer than usual—issued forth and swiftly disappeared into the underbrush. While we waited for them to return from whatever scouting they were doing, Yamanaka suddenly began empting her pockets. I exchanged a glance with Uchiha, having not the slightest idea what she was doing. It was actually pretty odd to see Yamanaka taking charge like this. Normally she left everything up to Uchiha, but she hadn't so much as fluttered her eyelashes in his direction today and instead was acting oddly detached. I'd heard that different people reacted differently to stress and shock—was her way of dealing to shut down emotionally, like how Uchiha had done the opposite and faded into the background?

My attention was drawn back to Yamanaka when she gave us all an expectant look. At my questioning look she made a waving motion with her hand while looking between Uchiha, Aburame, and me. Was I supposed to get something from that? I had no idea what she was trying to say. Yamanaka made another gesture with her hand, this time more frustratedly. When I continued to stare blankly she threw her hands up in the air and instead mouthed, _Check what equipment we have._

Oh, now that made more sense. Following Yamanaka's lead I began to take out all the equipment I had on me and pile it on the ground between us. From the corner of my eyes I could see Aburame and Uchiha doing the same. It was a good thing we all had a tendency to crash into our beds fully clothed after a tough night, otherwise we would have been pretty much unarmed.

In total we ended up with several dozen kunai and shuriken, two fūma shuriken inside a storage scroll, about a hundred feet of shinobi wire, twenty explosion tags, Yamanaka's makeup, two ration bars, a piece of hard candy, our shinobi ID cards, and the 'survival kits' Hatake-sensei had made us put together. I had little doubt now that he'd already had this 'pop quiz' in mind when he'd gone over survival techniques with us a month and a half ago.

Once Yamanaka and I had looked over everything, we return our equipment to their pockets and pouches. Around this time Aburame's kikaichū began to return as well. He stood still for a moment as they crawled up his arms and legs, disappearing back into his body—and wasn't _that_ a lovely picture—then turned back to us.

_Water,_ he signed while pointing to the direction at Uchiha's back. Yamanaka nodded, then took out her compass and strung it around her neck. As she opened it up I leaned over her shoulder to look and saw that the direction Aburame had pointed in was to the northeast—a good sign that it might lead us to the sea. That was if it was a river, of course. Or a creek. Or any sort of running water at all… It was a pity we didn't know hand signals past the basic ones; 'water' was as detailed as we could get right now. Suddenly I wished I'd paid more attention to Hatake-sensei when he'd been teaching us.

We headed off in the direction Aburame was telling us to, moving at a snail's pace on the ground. Aburame took point, scouting our path, so I walked beside him, while Yamanaka and Uchiha followed behind us. A couple minutes' walk took us to a narrow creek—not a pond, as I'd feared—and we began to follow it downstream.

I looked up at the sky as we walked. There were no thick clouds, so hopefully it wouldn't rain. That would be just what I needed to make this day complete.

o-O-o

_tenketsu_ – the 361 nodes along the chakra pathway system in the body from which chakra is released  
_kikaichū_ – small, beetle-like insects that are bred and utilized by the Aburame clan  
_Fūma shuriken_ – giant shuriken/windmill shuriken

A/N: Schadenfreude is a wonderful, and aptly fitting, word xD I have a couple of semi-important things to address in this AN:

1. Slight edit to the last chapter to explain why Tokui did nothing when the team was taken. Since I assume most of you probably don't care to go back and find one tiny change, I'll say it here as well: Kakashi was with the hunter-nin, Tokui recognized them as Leaf-nin and correctly assumed it was part of the mission so he let them pass and headed back to Leaf on his own.

2. I'm working on rewriting part of the outline for later events in this story right now, and I'm currently debating something that I'd like to get your guys' opinion on: I've very seriously (as in it's about 70% likely at the moment) considering putting a time skip in this story. It would be in about the same place as it is in canon, and for the same length of time, but since this story will be so different than canon, the events taking place during it would also be very, very different—no training trip with Jiraya or anything like that. So my question is, **what are your thoughts on time skips?** Are you alright with them, or do you think the events during them should be detailed, even if they're just skimmed over in a chapter or two?

3. I'm going on a backpacking trip next week, so I won't be able to update for about another two weeks after this (ie last week of July-ish).

Thanks for all your reviews!

S.R.

_I like to look at how people work together when they are put into stressful situations, when life stops being cozy.  
_-Jeanette Winterson


	16. Interlude V: Rock Lee

Posted: July 27, 2012  
Last Updated: November 5, 2012  
Chapter WC: 1,220  
Story WC: 66,016

* * *

Worth Dying For

Interlude V  
_Rock Lee_

* * *

-3:00 PM, May 24th, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Central District-

Lee sat in _seiza_, perfectly still despite muscles that ached to shift and burn and _move_. His fingers twitched despite his best efforts not to. He missed the bandages they were usually wrapped in. He missed his jumpsuit, thin and tough and comfortable and something so uniquely _his own_ that not wearing it was like shaving his hair or having his heart ripped out. Instead he was dressed conservatively in a dark yukata. The material was too soft and too rough and it tickled his arms and legs and neck. Lee wanted to scratch his skin or push away the material or do _something_ other than sitting there staring down at the floor.

The door slid open and finally—_finally_—Lee raised his eyes. The man who walked in was dressed elegantly in expensive clothes. His hair was swept back, not a strand out of place, and his mouth was hidden behind a thick beard. He looked exactly like he always did, exactly like he had for as long as long as Lee could remember. Perfectly groomed and so completely _civilian_ that it almost hurt.

Lee bent forward in a bow, head almost touching the floor. "Father."

The man said nothing as he took a seat across from him. A servant came to serve them tea and quickly left. While his father calmly took a sip Lee returned to waiting, gaze down, politely focused on the floor.

"How has your training been?" the man asked at last. His voice was low and flat, and Lee almost flinched at just how much the tone screamed that he _didn't care_ and was only asking for the sake of decorum.

"It has been going well, father," Lee replied. He fell back into silence. His shoulders were tense and he could just _feel_ the weight of his father's gaze on him, measuring him and assessing him—and finding him wanting.

"Has your sensei decided to enter you into the Chuunin Exams this year?" he asked.

"Not yet, father." Lee didn't bother to point out that the Exams are still about five months away. His father wouldn't care. It wasn't what he was really asking anyway—the statement hidden behind the question was _You're still a Genin. You will never be able to make it to Chuunin with your chakra condition. You will never make it as a shinobi._

_You have until you are 16,_ his father's agreement rung in Lee's head. They were practically tattooed across his mind, the first words he thought of in the morning and the last to fade from his consciousness at night. _If you do not become a Jounin by 16, you must quit being a shinobi and return to your rightful place by my side_.

It had taken _years_ to convince his father to let him become a shinobi despite his chakra condition, and years of training on top of that to get where he was. Lee couldn't—_wouldn't_—give up, not when he'd already attained shinobi status. It didn't matter if Chuunin was an impossible goal, never mind Jounin. He couldn't just let his dreams go and sit back and allow himself to be groomed to take over his father's company, even if that was his "duty".

Lee's fists clenched in his lap as the itching desire to move and run returned. His father continued to ask dull, polite questions like he always did during these monthly meetings, carefully masking his thinly veiled derision and scorn. It took all of Lee's considerable self-control not to jump up and shout and rage that the man should just_ say_ what he was thinking, that Lee was a failure as a shinobi and as a _son_.

He didn't. Instead he stayed and played along with the mockery of the conversation, answering each question as shortly as he could. When at last enough time had passed that it would seem that the man had actually spent some time with his son, he stood, nodded, and left. Almost as soon as the door had closed, Lee leapt up and left from the second door on the other side of the room. He sped through the hallways as fast he could without outright running, and had almost made it out of the complex when the sound of high-pitched, girlish laughter met his ears.

Lee froze. The door to his right had been left ajar and inside he could see a smiling little girl with straight black hair. She was listening with rapt attention to whatever her tutor was saying, and the sight of her made Lee's heart clench with the indomitable, crushing guilt that had been building in his chest from the moment he'd first stepped foot in the complex. He tore his gaze away and ran for the door with all of his considerable speed, and didn't slow until he was safely back in his apartment.

As Lee began changing back into his green jumpsuit, visions of the little girl continued to haunt him. In his mind's eyes he could see her turning to him with a confused expression on her face and saying, "Brother? Why are you leaving?"

He squeezed his eyes closed as he tied his forehead protector in place. He didn't have an answer for her. He was just selfish—selfishly doing what he wanted and leaving the burden of learning to take control of the company on her small shoulders. On a day like today she should have been running through the streets with her friends, not sitting in doors with a tutor. It was even worse to know that if he hadn't left she _would_ have been playing outside.

Lee wanted to hit something. And hit it as hard as he could, for as long as he could. Maybe he could find Neji and challenge him to a spar—

His heart clenched again, even more painfully this time. He pushed away the thought and buried deep down it with all anguish and frustration and guilt and _loss_.

Naruto, he decided firmly. He'd find Naruto and challenge him to a spar. The other boy was usually up for a fight. They weren't friends, per se—or at least Lee didn't think so; it was always difficult to tell what Naruto was thinking—but they were something like it. Training partners, perhaps? It was best not to think too hard on it; things like that were generally more complicated than they needed to be when Naruto was involved. The blond haired boy seemed to be made of snarky remarks and barbed-wire grins, hiding jaded eyes behind a fierce determination to _survive_ that Lee often found himself admiring.

Neji… Neji had never understood why Lee liked Naruto. He was selfish, the Hyuuga would say. Arrogant and selfish, running headfirst through life, wrapped up in himself without a care for who he knocked down and trampled along the way. Neji never understood that Lee liked him _because_ of that. Because he was a reflection of himself—selfish and headstrong, pushing no matter what, no matter how they bled and bruised and _hurt_. Naruto was the only person Lee knew who was more selfish than himself.

And for that, Lee thought he hated Naruto almost as much as he liked him.

o-O-o

_seiza_ – a traditional formal way of sitting in Japanese culture

A/N: I'm back! Thanks for all your responses to my question about time skips in the last chapter—that's really going to help with how I'll shape that part of the story.

A few weeks ago I ran into a small bout of writer's block, which is never a good thing for my attention span, and, well… I couldn't find any really good, up-to-date maps of the Elemental Nations, so I wound up compiling all the ones I could find and making my own. And then made it into a political map and a geographical map. So as I continue this story I'll be using those as a reference to different locations and terrains xD I already did that a few chapters back, actually, when I referenced the Hanguri Bay without actually explaining where it was.

So yeah! Political map can be found here xshadowrebirthx . / art / Elemental-Nations-Political-Map-317422394 and the geographical map can be found here: xshadowrebirthx . deviantart art / Elemental-Nations-Geographical-Map-317422439. There are also links on my profile (under Images) if you don't want to have to remove the spaces to those links.

_Obligatory chapter comments:_

This interlude might seem like more of a character study than a piece of the plot, but it also introduces a few concepts that will be very important coming up.

It should hopefully be obvious by now, but I'll say it anyway: WDF Naruto's motivations are primarily selfish. In that way, he's completely opposite to canon Naruto. Canon Naruto's motivations are all about helping and protecting his friends, often at great risk to himself. WDF Naruto isn't like that at all. He doesn't interact well with people and doesn't really care about others. He trains to get stronger for himself, he tries to make more money for himself, and even when he does things like protecting Akihito, he's thinking about himself (i.e. the ramifications of being responsible for Akihito's death) while doing so. He doesn't have friends, doesn't get close to people, doesn't _want_ to get close to people, and cares more about getting money and making his own life easier than loyalty or anything else. As he is right now, if it came down to saving his own hide or saving someone else, he'd probably save himself. Of course, he's also pretty rash and impulsive, so exactly how he'd react to different situations is up in the air.

As for Lee… To me, it never felt like it was properly explained in canon just where Lee gets his determination from. Sure, he had a fierce desire to prove himself, but after he was nearly crippled in the Chuunin Exams he was pretty much willing to kill himself to continue to being a shinobi, which to me speaks of a deeper, unspoken story. So here's my interpretation of that story. He's still 90% Lee—determined, foolishly optimistic, always willing to look on the good side, and always ready to help others—but he's also driven by an unhealthy dose of guilt and of self-hatred resulting from his otherwise unshakeable determination.

S.R.

_Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt.  
_-Titus Maccius Plautus


	17. Chapter 11: Abound

Posted: August 8, 2012  
Last Updated: August 8, 2012  
Chapter WC: 4,158  
Story WC: 70,174

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 11  
_Abound_

* * *

-1:00 PM, May 13th, 312 TE-

-Unknown Location-

Sasuke could safely say that he hated the situation he was in. He'd been drugged, kidnapped, and dropped off in the middle of nowhere, entirely against his will. Someone had come into _his room_ and _put their hands on him_. It was a grievous, unforgivable offense. His hands were shaking at the mere thought of someone doing such a thing to him. It would take _weeks_ before he'd be able to comfortably sleep in his own bed again.

After hours of walking with his teammates through an unfamiliar forest the land around them started to become hilly and rocky. An hour later the creek abruptly widened and carved its way through the hills before dropping out of sight completely. A minute later they found out why.

The Fangirl and the Wildcard stood on the edge of the canyon looking down. There was a roaring river a few hundred feet below them. Sasuke stared blankly at their backs. They were signing to each other about where to go from there, but he could only catch a few of their movements.

The silent tap of feet landing on the ground immediately made Sasuke jerk around and instinctively fall into a Taijutsu stance. The sudden movement yanked the chain tying him to the Fangirl and threw him off for a second before all of his attention was diverted to the three people who had suddenly appeared behind them. They were all shinobi—Cloud-nin, from their forehead protectors. Sasuke's lips tightened and he felt his stomach clench.

At the fore of the group was a woman in her late twenties with long braided blonde hair. _Jounin_, Sasuke's mind automatically catalogued. _Captain of a squad. No visible weapons or pouches. Potential Taijutsu or Ninjutsu specialist. Dangerous._ Behind her were a man and a woman, both in their early twenties with dark, tanned skin and red hair. _Chuunin or Jounin. Genjutsu specialist and swordswoman._

"State your purpose, Leaf-nin," the blonde woman barked. Sasuke saw that her dark eyes were focused solely on the Wildcard, even though he was currently the one farthest back in their group, closest to the edge of the cliff. The woman's fingers twitched as though she wanted to reach for a weapon.

The Fangirl and Aburame both shifted uncomfortably. The Wildcard stepped forward, chain rattling as he moved, and the woman immediately slid one foot back as though readying to fight or flee. The Wildcard paused for a moment, surprise clear on his features, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. After a tense moment in which no one moved and Sasuke found himself holding his breath, the Wildcard held his head up, stretching out his neck, and tapped the seal on his throat.

The three Cloud-nin stared wordlessly at them. Their expressions were shuttered, revealing nothing of their thoughts. When the Wildcard rolled his eyes, Sasuke was thankful that at least he could guess what he was thinking—probably something full of obscenities and with either the word "annoying" or "idiots". The Wildcard held his hands out in a nonviolent gesture and then slowly crouched down while keeping his gaze glued on the blonde woman. Her eyes narrowed further, but she didn't attack. Still moving slowly, the Wildcard began to scratch in the dirt.

_Survival exercise. We are heading back to Hidden Leaf Village_, he wrote.

There was another tense moment of silence. "And the chains?" the blonde said at last, having lost none of her suspicion.

The Wildcard twisted his lips into a mocking grin. He wiped away the characters he'd drawn on the ground and then wrote,_ We have a sadistic sensei._ After a thoughtful pause he added below that, _You can escort us to the nearest outpost if that is your protocol. Are we close to the border of Lightning Country?_

The red haired kunoichi's gaze flickered to something off to the side. Sasuke turned his head and caught sight of a small dog with a Leaf forehead protector around its neck observing them from the shadow of a tree. So they were being watched. Sasuke's shoulder sagged slightly in relief, then tensed again when the blonde woman began to scowl.

"You are very close to the border of Hot Springs Country, which we are patrolling," she said.

Hot Springs Country was south of Lightning Country, Sasuke remembered. There was another, small country between them as well, but its name escaped him at the moment. Both it and Hot Springs Country were small with no shinobi, and as such were technically within the domain of Hidden Cloud Village. The border between Fire Country and Hot Springs Country had been patrolled by Leaf-nin and Cloud-nin since the end of the Third Great Shinobi War.

"We don't care if you are fleeing from Hidden Leaf Village so long as you stay away from the border," the kunoichi continued, and Sasuke scowled at the implication that they were traitors. He could feel more than see the Wildcard doing the same and an irritated buzzing rose from Aburame's direction. "We will escort you south, away from the border.

_NOT MISSING-NIN. On survival exercise_, the Wildcard wrote angrily in the dirt, glowering heavily at the blonde Jounin. She raised one of her eyebrows in a clear expression of disbelief and the look reminded Sasuke so much of Kakashi that he found himself glaring at her as well.

Without another word, the woman turned and began to run alongside the canyon, following it downstream and heading to the southeast. The two other Cloud-nin flashed away, either to report the incident or follow in the shadows. The Wildcard shared a look with the Fangirl. The two nodded as one and began to walk after the blonde kunoichi, forcing Sasuke and Aburame to follow.

The blonde Cloud-nin didn't say another word to them as they ran. She kept a slow pace that they were just barely able to keep up with without the use of chakra, and stopped when the canyon began to dip down and flatten out into a plain. By the time at least a couple of hours had to have gone by she finally stopped, gave them a firm nod, and then disappeared completely.

The Wildcard and the Fangirl shared another look. Without bothering to sign anything to Sasuke or Aburame they continued walking, still following the river. Sasuke felt a wave of irritation rise up within him. Why were _they_ leading the way? He was an Uchiha, and the top shinobi in their graduating year. It was only logical that he should be leading the way, not them. Sasuke swallowed a lump in his throat and kept to the back of the group. He was an Uchiha—_the_ Uchiha, technically—so why would his own traitorous feet not step forward and take command?

o-O-o

-7:00 PM, May 13th, 312 TE-

-Unknown Location, Fire Country-

I stretched and smiled languidly as I felt my back pop in several places. It was nice to actually get to run all day for once, I thought. When we ran in training it was in laps or in an obstacle course or, more often, while running for our lives from Hatake-sensei's hellish Taijutsu. Actually being able to just _run_ and let my muscles move while my mind wandered was a rare luxury.

My teammates didn't feel the same if the way they were sprawled out on the ground, exhausted, was any indication. We'd been moving the whole day and were only stopping now that dusk was approaching. My idea to follow a river to the sea had been a good one. We'd come across the coast a few hours ago and had been following it south since in hopes of finding a port town. My hope was that once we came across civilization we could find a map or, failing that, get directions to a road leading back to Hidden Leaf Village. With a little bit of luck we could be back home in two to three days. Of course, knowing my luck that meant it would probably take us a week.

Yamanaka sat up. Uchiha, Aburame, and I immediately shifted to look at her, which actually said a lot about how used to paying attention to each other we had gotten since Hatake-sensei had taken our voices away. I'd found that I was intimately more aware of where my teammates were now that I had to actually look at them to communicate.

_Camp. Food. Traps,_ Yamanaka signed.

I nodded slowly and rubbed my chin. I pointed to myself and then signed, _Saw tracks. Hunt._

Yamanaka quickly agreed. She signed back that she and Uchiha would set up the fire and a few perimeter traps while Aburame and I went out to hunt.

Aburame and I quickly headed back north, the way we'd come. The chain connecting our wrists was silent as we had learned to walk far enough apart to keep tension in it. I quickly found the faint deer tracks pressed into the soft, fertile dirt that I had—thank god—noted only a little while ago. My stomach rumbled at the sight and I started to salivate. I'd only eaten half a ration bar all day and while I was more than used to going a day or two without eating, we'd been on the run all day long and I was _starving_.

I turned to Aburame. Without needing any prompting he raised his free hand and sent out his kikaichū to track down the deer. There were only a handful of them now, even fewer than this morning. Briefly I scratched my chin as I wondered how his bugs worked. I knew they fed off his chakra and that they only lived a few hours, so I could only assume that they were breeding at a drastically reduced rate with his chakra mostly suppressed as it was. How could he still control his bugs anyway? Didn't he have to use chakra for that or something?

I continued to let my thoughts meander through meaningless subjects as we continued the hunt. Aburame's kikaichū easily found the lone deer and we tracked it down. It was a small breed that barely came up to my chest and I easily took down with a well-placed kunai to its neck, severing its spine with as little blood loss as possible. I threw it over my shoulder—Aburame looked about ready to keel over while I still had stamina in spades—and we began to trek back to our teammates with no further ado.

Hunting like this brought back fond memories for me. Some were of the Academy. Back in our later years our teachers would drag us brats into the woods behind the Academy for camping trips about once a month. We were taught how to catch, skin, and cook our own food—mainly rabbits and squirrels. At the time it was fun, being out with everyone else, running around throwing kunai and shuriken while the boys boasted about the sizes of their kills and the girls squealed over the blood. It was only looking back on it now that I could recognize it as a form of desensitization training, teaching us not only survival skills, but how _to_ kill and deal with our kills.

Most of my memories of hunting, however, were of me on my own. Just as I'd often slept in the woods during my younger years, I'd also often hunted in those forests. In the silence of the falling night, I could almost imagine that I was back in Hidden Leaf Village's forests alone, pretending that I was hunting rabbits for convenience, not because I couldn't afford to buy food that week.

By the time we reached our teammates Yamanaka and Uchiha had already dug a small fire pit and set up some rudimentary shuriken traps. They wouldn't do much if we were attacked, especially since we were out in the open without any tree cover, but it was better than nothing. Yamanaka and Uchiha had also managed to find a several long pieces of dry drift wood and Uchiha was working on making a basic frame.

_Coat. Make rope,_ Uchiha signed as we arrived and then gestured to Aburame.

Aburame jumped and then shook his head back and forth quickly. He pulled his coat tightly around himself as though afraid that we would physically take it from him. Uchiha frowned at him, then made an impatient gesture.

_Coat_, he signed again. _Need._

Once more Aburame shook his head again and began to mouth something rapidly, but I couldn't read his lips from where I was standing slightly behind him. I nudged the boy with my elbow and he shot me a panicked look. This was the most emotion I had ever seen him show in all the weeks that we'd been a team, or all the years we'd been in the Academy. Was he really that attached to the thing? Well, I guess I'd feel the same way if Uchiha wanted to cut up my orange pants or something.

I gave Aburame another look and signed _Need_ just like Uchiha had. Rope would be invaluable—and necessary for Uchiha to finish the frame he was making—and the only clothing any of us had to spare to make some was Aburame's coat. After a brief but heated argument, in which Aburame seemed to mostly be struggling with himself, he finally relented. He hesitantly pulled off his coat, revealing a basic dark blue jumper beneath. It covered all of his skin from his wrists and ankles to his neck, but he wrapped himself in his arms as though he felt he were naked. I wondered for a moment if he'd ever taken his coat off in front of someone else before, but quickly dismissed the thought as pointless.

Uchiha made quick work of the coat, using a kunai to cut the tough material it into long strips. Aburame flinched at each sound of tearing cloth, and kept his back to us while Uchiha used the strips to tie his frame together. For a moment I thought Aburame was angry, but he actually looked more sad than anything, and as soon as the coat had been cut up he turned back to us, face as blank as ever.

After Uchiha was done Yamanaka strung the deer up by its hindquarters. She worked quickly and methodically, without so much as blinking. She pulled out an empty storage scroll with a black stripe around the top and laid it out beneath the hanging deer. I vaguely recognized the scroll as being one designed specifically for dead bodies—or in this case, blood. My thoughts were proved correct when Yamanaka activated the scroll, then pulled out a kunai and began to gut the deer, drawing the blade through its soft belly and along the insides of its legs, bleeding it out. All of her movements were precise and controlled, and she didn't so much as blink when her hands began to get splattered with blood. The blood itself all drained down onto the storage scroll. It seemed to go straight through the paper, as though it wasn't even there, or like it was pouring into an invisible bucket.

This was the difference between a clan-raised shinobi and a civilian-raised shinobi, I thought a bit numbly. Yamanaka was certainly ditsy and girlish enough at times. But now, soaked in red, she looked completely at ease. I had little doubt her family had had her do something like this a dozen times before until the blood didn't so much as make her twitch.

The silence didn't bother me so much anymore when I was with my teammates. We all worked together easily enough as night fell and we cooked the meat and ate. When at last we were sated and had cleaned everything up, we set up a watch rotation. I drew the first slot and watched as my teammates shifted around and drifted off.

My eyes were drawn to the sea. I could see the waters in the distance, perhaps half a mile away from our camp. It was…vast. That was really all I could say. I'd seen the ocean on the TV before, of course, but the TV couldn't show just how _massive _it really was. The water extended into the distance and with the night it became impossible to tell where the water ended and the sky began—it seemed to just stretch up and keep going and going, curling up into the heavens above me. I followed it with my eyes, falling onto my back and staring up into the night until my eyes stopped at the bright full moon.

It was perfectly round tonight and very large, I thought absently. My stomach twisted queasily, and I hoped I wasn't getting some sort of indigestion form the deer. It would be just my luck to have hunted down a sick or poisoned deer. The more I stared up at the moon the more my stomach twisted and rumbled, so at last I sat back up and returned to staring into the blackness of the sea.

o-O-o

-4:00 PM, May 14th, 312 TE-

-Along the coast of Fire Country-

It was late in the next day when we finally came across signs of civilization. We had been following a road along the coast for hours now through the thin woods that had sprung up not too far from the beach. We had yet to come across any people—not even a small fishing village, which really just cemented in my mind how ridiculously _large_ the world was in general, especially when so many people lived in the big cities—but had finally found a bridge that led off into the sea.

The word "bridge" didn't really do it justice, I thought as we stared at it. Calling the structure a "bridge" was like calling Hidden Leaf Village's walls "toothpicks". It was an _enormous_ suspension bridge that thirty men could walk abreast and that stretched on and on across the sea for _miles._ I could faintly see a green island in the distance where it finally ended.

Even if I could talk, I don't think I could have said anything just then.

Yamanaka turned to us and mouthed, _I think that goes to Wave Country_.

Aburame slowly nodded. _Go?_ he signed. I frowned, unable to see how _leaving _Fire Country could help us get back to Hidden Leaf Village. If anything we should just continue following the road until it led to the inland, to the west. Before I could say as much, Yamanaka was agreeing with him, and Uchiha too.

I gestured back toward the road, but Yamanaka just shook her head firmly. I scowled at her, now wishing once more that I _could_ speak, but with a three to one vote I was outnumbered. I could always just drag Aburame off… I considered the idea for a moment before writing it off as being far more trouble than it was worth.

Grudgingly I assented to the long, _long_ run across the ridiculously large bridge while wondering if all the architects in the elemental nations were giants because it seemed that I kept encountering oversized structures. It didn't take as quite long as I was expecting at least, and we were soon approaching the island it was connected to. It was a very green, forested island, with a small village built around the edge of the bridge.

The people of the town were all dressed in worn, ragged clothing and there were more than just a few beggars on the street, but to my utter confusion they all looked _happy_. There was barely a sad face amongst the lot.

"You!" came a suddenly shout.

We came to a quick halt. There was a short tower directly across from the mouth of the bridge and at its base, a dozen paces away, was an older man with rough, tanned skin and a scraggily gray beard. Despite his accusatory tone he was smiling the broadest grin I'd ever seen.

He was also pointing directly at me.

_Me?_ I mouthed confusedly as I pointed to my chest. The older man practically ran up to us, grinning all the while and waving around a _sake_ bottle in one of his hands.

"I remember you!" the man yelled. Everyone around us had stopped to stare and my teammates all shifted uncomfortably, staring at me as well. "You're Takauji-sama's shinobi!"

I was—what? As my bewilderment increased twofold the old man swung his arm and pulled me against him while laughing jubilantly. I staggered beneath his weight and gagged at the heavy stench of alcohol and sweat that was pouring off him in waves. He had a surprisingly strong grip for such an old man—especially since I could literally feel each of his ribs through his clothes—and it took me a minute to wriggle away from him. I started to demand who he was before remembering my lack of voice. Just _perfect_.

The man didn't seem to notice my silence. He was still chuckling, even as he took another swig from his bottle. He grabbed me again, this time wrapping a hand around the side of my neck and pulling me forward. "Well don't just stand around! You've got to come home and meet my daughter and grandson!" he said loudly.

Yamanaka shot me a look that unmistakably said "_What the hell did you do?!"_ but I didn't have the slightest answer for her. I stumbled along behind the larger old man as he rambled about god only knew what, incomprehension blanking out most of my higher thought processes, as my teammates slowly following along.

The old man led us to a two-story house that jutted out over the water. He ushered us inside without ever dropping his smile once and the only reason I didn't—overtly—think we were walking into an ambush was because he'd dropped Takauji's name. Unless he was some kind of enemy of Takauji's… I briefly considered Tazuna's dopey grin and staggering, drunken gait before internally snorting at the thought.

"My daughter is a fantastic cook. As soon as she gets home I'll have her whip up the best dinner you've ever had," the man declared as we awkwardly crowded around a table in the main room.

I exchanged an amused glance with Aburame before stepping forward. I tried to mime writing something on my hand, but the old man just stared at me, smile slowly slipping off his face. I growled silently, pointed to the seal on my throat and then mimed writing again. The old man still looked confused, but at last he slowly got out a piece of paper and a pencil and handed them to me.

_We are on a survival exercise and can't speak,_ I quickly wrote.

"Oh!" the man exclaimed. He shook his head. "You shinobi do the oddest things, I swear."

Ignoring the slight twitch in my left eye, I wrote, _So who are you exactly?_

"I am Tazuna, the super bridge builder!" the man crowed. "And you are Takauji-sama's shinobi, yes?"

My teammates stared at me as I grimaced. _We're friends, yes,_ I wrote, even though that wasn't entirely true. I spoke to Akihito all the time, sure, but friends? The word just didn't seem to fit. Of course, I'd never actually had a friend before, so I had no idea what friends were like, so maybe we really were friends…?

Shaking off that line of thought, I instead diverted my mind to Tazuna's name. It, coupled with his profession, brought up a distant memory of a weeping man begging Akihito to help him save Wave Country from some evil villain.

_How'd things turn out here?_ I questioned.

Tazuna's face was once again split by a broad smile. "Takauji-sama saved us. I don't know how he did it, but he got rid of Gatou and helped us finish building the bridge—the Great Takauji Bridge!" he said. "We're still getting back onto our feet, but that bridge means everything to us. I don't know how much longer we could have lasted…"

A woman and a little boy stepped into the house. As Tazuna started to animatedly explain who we were and why we were there, Yamanaka turned to me with a faintly twitching eyebrow and a peeved expression. _What?_ she signed.

I shrugged. I certainly wasn't going to question a chance for a free meal, if nothing else, and Tazuna could probably tell us the quickest way back to Hidden Leaf Village since he'd been there himself. _Later,_ I signed back as a silent promise to explain when we had a proper chance to relax. _Mission completion._

She nodded slowly with a determined expression that clearly said I would be explaining in full or else risk facing painful disembowelment.

o-O-o

A/N: Before anyone asks about what actually happened in Wave, the whole "I don't know how he did it, but he got rid of Gatou" thing isn't a copout; it'll be explained in detail later. Keep in mind that 80% of this story is from Naruto's perspective, so what you're seeing and hearing is how he perceives things, not necessarily how they actually are.

Thanks for all the reviews!

S.R.

_Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for its survival after a stressful situation by becoming a little older.  
_-Hans Selye


	18. Chapter 12: Missions

Posted: Feb 2, 2013  
Last Updated: March 18, 2013  
Chapter WC: 8,620  
Story WC: 78,794

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 12  
_Missions_

* * *

-2:00 PM, May 30, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 7-

Two weeks after finally returning to Hidden Leaf Village after a three and a half day adventure through _wonderful_ untamed wilds of Fire Country, Hatake-sensei bestowed upon us the greatest gift I've received in my life: the ability of speech. Of course, as always with Hatake-sensei there was a catch. In this case it was a long, grueling exam with shiver-worthy punishments that made sure we knew _all_ the hand signals he'd taught us, and could read lips with an accuracy of at least 75%. Generous, he said. Ludicrous, I said.

With that arduous exercise in silent communication out of the way, Hatake-sensei started on another one, this time focusing on honing our subterfuge skills via use of _henge_. More specifically, every day after training and missions we spent a couple of hours practicing using _henge_ to change into each other. Pretty simple, in theory. But of course this was Hatake-sensei we were talking about.

We didn't just have to be able to change into all of our teammates. We had to look _exactly _like them, down the faintest scar that was hidden by clothing anyway, with every wrinkle of clothing and strand of hair perfectly in place. Once we had the image part down pat, Hatake-sensei switched the focus to making sure that we could act just like the person we were imitating as well, and that meant hours of figuring out the difference between how Aburame and I walked or how Yamanaka huffed when annoyed or the slightest, almost unnoticeable crease that marred Uchiha's forehead whenever he smelled dango, for some completely inexplicable reason.

It was frustrating and tiring, and after two weeks of such training I was more than ready to kill all my teammates in their sleep just to get away from that goddamned imitation training. I didn't even really get the whole point of going through all this trouble. Sure it could _possibly_ be useful in battle to have the enemy think you were someone else or switch positions with one of my teammates or something, but not by much. Whenever we asked Hatake-sensei about it though, he'd just wave us off with some bullshit explanation about "knowing our teammates". It still didn't make any sense to me.

Complaining aside, by the end of two weeks I _could_ perfectly imitate all of my teammates, down the point that when Uchiha and I stood next to each other while I wore a _henge_, neither my teammates nor my sensei could tell which one of us was the original.

"Good," Hatake-sensei said with a satisfied nod. I immediately whooped for joy; my teammates had already passed this little test of his. "I suppose you are all ready for part three then!"

And the elation promptly disappeared. I should have known there would be another part. "How many parts to this 'exercise' are there in total?" I grumbled.

"Eh, probably four," Hatake-sensei replied while lazily scratching his chin. "Number four will be learning how to fight like each other—" Cue a round of groans. "—But part three will just be spending your days without breaking 'character'. You will each be imitating one member of the team, and will switch imitations each day. For today, Naruto-kun you will be staying as Sasuke, Sasuke-kun you'll be Shino, Shino-kun you'll be Ino, and Ino-chan you'll be Naruto. Tomorrow you get to pick who you imitate but make sure you decide in the morning because when you show up for training I expect you to already be in character!"

Well this was going to be as much fun as a bundle of monkeys.

We reached the Hokage Tower in good time and made our way to the Mission Center. The kunoichi manning the D-rank desk handed us a green scroll, which Hatake-sensei took.

"Head to the third floor of the Tower and report to the head Chuunin there," he read aloud. "You will be cleaning out some old offices and helping to file paperwork. Naruto-kun will be captain for the mission."

There was a moment of hesitation as we wondered whether he meant me or Yamanaka-as-me. Finally the disguised kunoichi groaned and began to grumble under her breath. I kept my face carefully blank and bored, for once glad that Uchiha rarely showed his emotions because at the moment I wasn't really in the mood to play along.

We made our way up to the third floor and were met with a Chuunin in his late thirties who looked perpetually angry. He directed us to a hallway with a dozen offices and told us that _all_ of them needed to be cleaned out. I think that might have been the first and only time that I missed Tora the cat; at least chasing her down required actual shinobi skills.

Half an hour and three offices later, Yamanaka-as-me dumped a tall stack of boxes filled with files into my arms. "Here Uchiha, take these back to the central office," she said. I nodded silently and balanced them as I left.

I got about half way down the hall before a voice somewhere ahead of me suddenly squeaked, "S-sasuke-kun!"

Surprised, I stopped and peered around the stack of boxes I was carrying. There was a girl standing in my path, with a face that was about a pink as her hair. It took me a moment to place her in my mind as one of my fellow Genin graduates.

"What?" I grunted.

The girl beamed at me, as though my reply was equal to asking her on a date. "Are you on a mission, Sasuke-kun?" I bit back the instinctive reply on the tip of my tongue that _no_, I was just there for _fun_, and instead replied with another grunt. There girl blushed even harder, if that was even possible, and then began to _giggle_. "I'm sure you're doing _so_ well Sasuke-kun, since you're a genius—"

To my eternal frustration, another girl joined the first. This one had dark hair and white eyes that instantly marked her as a Hyuuga. I thought she might have been in my Academy class too; Hina or Hinata or something like that.

"We work in the Tower," the pink haired girl said, gesturing to herself and the Hyuuga. "Our team didn't pass the secondary Genin exam because of that _stupid_ dog boy so we were regulated to work here. It's really, umm, interesting. Not as exciting as what you do, I'm sure—"

Through her babbling—god, was this really what Uchiha had to deal with all the time? No wonder he was so quiet—I managed catch onto part of what she said. "You didn't return to the Academy?" I questioned, curiosity getting the better of me.

"Oh, no, Genin who fail the secondary exam are still Genin. It just means that we don't get placed with a Jounin instructor. Most of us are instead relegated to work in the Tower for the administration or as couriers or guards," the girl said eagerly. "It's a lot harder to get field experience without a team, but…" She faltered for a moment, and then suddenly beamed proudly. "I'm studying to become a medic-nin! Maybe one day I'll get to heal you in the field, Sasuke-kun."

The girl finished with a blush and an ecstatic smile that almost made me feel sorry for her. The Hyuuga next to her smiled nervously. "Umm…" She blushed and looked down while wringing her hands nervously. "H-how is Naruto?"

Eh? She was asking about _me_? I tried to remember if I'd ever even spoken to Hyuuga in class, but nothing came to mind. The surprise and confusion generated by her question were almost enough to make me break character—almost.

"Fine," I grunted in reply. I slouched a little further, just like Uchiha was wont to do when he was getting annoyed.

"Is he…" The girl hesitated. "…here?"

I nodded mutely. Hyuuga squeaked as though I'd yelled at her, her face turning crimson. Her eyes darted around the hallway for moment as though looking for me—Naruto—and then she quickly hurried back the way she'd come.

"Sorry about her. She's had a really hard time since graduation," the pink haired girl rushed to say. "She's been trying really hard, but her father disowned her and she got this seal, and—" She stopped abruptly, grimacing and looked abashed. "W-well, it's none of my business, really. It's clan matters…"

My interest was definitely piqued again, but I had little care for clan politics and from what I'd seen, Uchiha cared even less. I carefully hid any of my interest from my expression, shrugged, and then brushed past her without another word.

o-O-o

-6:00 PM, May 30, 312 TE-

-Central District-

"Sarutobi Asuma," I declared, immensely satisfied with myself. The man slowly turned to face me. There was a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips.

One eyebrow quirked upward. "Yes?" he drawled.

I could clearly see the resemblance between him and the Hokage, especially with the smoking addiction. "Your affinity is wind. My affinity is wind. My sensei said you could help me."

Sarutobi took out his cigarette and slowly blew out a breath of smoke. "Hmm, and why would I want to help you, kid?"

I'd gone over such a question myself in the months since I'd first been given his name and ultimately came up with an answer which fit pretty much any situation I could come across: shift it onto Hatake-sensei. "Hatake-sensei will owe you a favor," I told him. "He did refer me to you after all."

The Jounin laughed long and hard at that before finally agreeing between chuckles. "Sure, I'll help you with your chakra training. Only when I'm not on missions though. How about in the evenings, say once or twice a week?" he said.

"Sure," I answered. Then a thought struck me. "Don't you have a team?"

"Nope." He rolled his shoulders languidly, and then returned his cigarette to its spot between his lips. "They failed the secondary Genin exam."

Ah, that had been the Hyuuga's and the pink haired girl's team, hadn't it? "Well then Sarutobi-sensei, I look forward to working with you."

o-O-o

-5:00 PM, June 1st, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 7-

I hacked, nearly biting off my tongue as my back slammed into the trunk of a tree. I threw myself to the side just in time for Sasuke's fist to hit the tree instead of me and then tossed a handful of shuriken at him as I rolled to my feet. Sasuke deflected them with his bracer and pulled his fist back again—and then Shino's knee smashed into the side of his face.

By this time I was already running up into another tree. I dipped my hand into the pouch on my leg, withdrawing a roll of ninja wire. Below me Sasuke had sliced a kunai at Shino, only for the other boy to dissolve into a cloud of bugs.

"That's enough now kiddies," Hatake-sensei's voice called from the other side of the training ground.

I jerked my hand, cutting it on the wire that I'd started to coil around my palm. "Dammit," I muttered under my breath. I wiped the blood off my already healed skin and then jumped back to the ground.

We gathered in the middle of the clearing. Ino was rubbing her temple and glaring at me; she'd caught me in a Genjutsu earlier and tried to subdue me and in return I'd knocked her out with the base of a kunai. She really needed to work on her speed and evasion.

"I have a surprise for you! You're going to be… Drum roll please?" We stared at Hatake-sensei. A moment later he sighed. "Fine, ruin my fun. You're going to be taking extra classes!"

"School," I said blankly. "You're sending us back to _school_."

Uchiha glowered as well. "Why?" he demanded shortly.

"Come now, you didn't think your learning was over just because you became shinobi, did you? All Genin take extra specialization classes. I may be able to teach you everything you really _need_ to know, but you'll never grow into your potential if you don't branch off into different subjects of the shinobi arts."

Aburame hummed thoughtfully as he asked, "What classes will we be taking?

"A different one for each of you. You will all be attending these classes in the evenings, after your regular training. In fact, the first class is today, lucky you!" Hatake-sensei smiled cheerfully. "Shino-kun, you will be the communications expert of the team. The Communications class will teach you more about signals, radios, chakra flares, etc." He turned to Yamanaka. "You will be taking a beginner's Sealing Arts class and Sasuke-kun you'll be taking a Demolitions and Weapons class. Naruto-kun, you will be taking a Field Medicine class."

I spluttered at the assignment. "You want me to be a _medic-nin_?" I demanded. Had he gone completely insane? Even _I_ knew that medic-nin were required to have near-perfect chakra control, something I would never achieve even if I trained for a hundred years.

"I said _field medicine_," Hatake-sensei replied. "No techniques, no chakra, just pure triage."

Slowly my mouth closed. Okay, _maybe_ I could see where Hatake-sensei was coming from—since I didn't really have to worry about getting injured myself, I was in the best position to help my teammates if _they_ got hurt.

Hatake-sensei gave each of us a piece of paper with the location of our class on it along with a strict warning to not slack off or face more night training sessions, something that made all of us shiver at this point. My class was located on the top floor of the Academy, at the very back. It was with a sudden jolt that I realized I'd never stepped foot on the second floor of the Academy—and that it was probably reserved for Genin classes like these.

"Huh," I mused as I stepped into the room. Maybe I really did need to pay more attention to shinobi administration-type things.

I took a seat near the back of the class and leaned back as I looked around. The room was half filled already. My fellow classmates were mostly Genin ranging from my age to late teens, though I also spotted the green flack vests of a couple young Chuunin. At the front of the class was a bespectacled, silver haired young man.

Fifteen minutes later, it was this man who stepped forward and started the class. "Hello," he said. "I am Yakushi Kabuto, a member of the Hidden Leaf Village Medic Corps, and your instructor for the next three months."

As the young man started to go over the material they would be learning—which was pretty much just basic triage like Hatake-sensei had claimed—I let my eyes wander around the room. Near the front I saw a head of pink hair and blinked slowly as I realized that the Genin girl from earlier was here too. She had mentioned something about becoming a medic-nin, if I remembered correctly. The boy sitting next to me shifted suddenly, turning to look at me.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" he questioned in a low tone.

Not quite what I'd been expecting. My eyes narrowed at him. He looked like he was about the same age as me, with short dark hair, black eyes, and a weird long-sleeved black jacket that was cut off just above his abdomen. "Yeah?"

The boy hummed quietly. He was smiling, but it was an odd smile. I couldn't quite pinpoint what was wrong with it, just that it felt…off. Like looking at an inverted image—I knew what it was supposed to be, but it didn't quite match up.

"Who are you?" I asked bluntly.

"My name is Sai. I was ordered to become friends with you."

I stared, all wariness blown away in the face of such a candid statement. "That's, er…" He just continued to smile that tilted smile, as though his words had made perfect sense, and then turned away to focus back on the front. I continued to stare at him for a minute before slowly doing the same.

"We will be starting off with the ABCs of triage," Yakushi was saying, "Or more specifically, the ABCDE Resuscitation Scheme which is, in essence, a list of five things to check before starting care for a downed teammate on the field." He turned to the chalkboard behind and began to write on it in clear, precise handwriting. "First, A is for airway. You want to assure nothing is blocking the free flow of air in the mouth and trachea. B is for breathing—make certain air exchange is actually occurring. C is for circulation. Check that the heart is beating, pulse is present, and any bleeding is stopped. D is for disability. Check the nervous system. Are they verbally responding? Are eyes open? Arms moving? Legs? And finally, E is for exposure. Take off their clothes, if necessary, and check for other hidden or non-visible life-threatening injuries.

"Memorize these steps. Repeat them over and over until you can recite them in your sleep, because they are the basis for the rest of content you will be learning in this class."

It seemed like mostly common sense to me. A bit elementary, and obvious to boot. Next to me, Sai was dutifully writing down the instructor's words, and ignoring my presence despite his earlier words.

Up front Yakushi continued, "Triage refers to the sorting out of trauma victims according to the severity of their injuries. You must consider four situations when performing triage in the field: 1) Whom to ignore because they are going to make it without attention. 2) Whom to let die because no amount of care will reverse their overwhelming injuries. 3) Who has life-threatening injuries that must be reversed immediately. 4) Who needs care for major injuries that are not life-threatening."

I put my head down as Yakushi droned on. God, I hated classes like these—all theory and no explosions. How the hell was I going to make it through the next few weeks?

Later that night, as the class wrapped and was dismissed, Sai and I left in separate direction. Or rather, I separated and left—Sai just disappeared without so much as a whisper. I had only gotten half way down the street though when a heavy hand suddenly dropped onto my shoulder, making me jump. I started to twist away, automatically reaching out to throw the other person off, but instead another hand wrapped around my wrist with a steel-like grip and I found myself staring up at Hatake-sensei's amused smile.

The tension drained out of me, along with a resigned sigh. "What now?" I groused.

"Follow me," he said and let my hand drop.

My shoulders drooped further. "_Seriously_? Come on sensei, it's already after eight and I haven't even had dinner yet!"

"Oh? Well if you want to wait longer to learn _shunshin_ then that's fine with me. I'll just drop you back off at—"

"What?!" My eyes widened with shock and then a wide grin spread across my face. As I rushed after Hatake-sensei I yelled, "_Shunshin_, really? Hell yeah I'm coming!"

It had been well over two months now since I'd been put on Team Kakashi and he'd promised to teach me the jutsu. His promise was one of the few reasons I was okay with being put on a team—though, admittedly, my teammates weren't _that_ bad now that I was getting used to them—since it was hands down one of the coolest and most useful jutsu I saw shinobi around the village using.

Hatake-sensei took me to one of the basic Genin training grounds. He took a seat on an upturned log and gestured for me to join him—on the ground, of course. I happily dropped down and then looked up at him, eager to begin. For once, even the glorious ramen I'd been planning to have for dinner was the farthest thing from my mind.

"The first thing you need to understand," Hatake sensei began in his lecture-tone, "is that _shunshin_ isn't really a teleportation technique, no matter how much it may seem like one. There are very few actually teleportation techniques and all of them are S-class for obvious reasons. Rather, _shunshin_ is more closely related to an advanced form of _kawarimi._ It is, by definition, a replacement technique, only instead of replacing the user with a nearby object, it moves them—replacing them with air, you could technically say. It's this displacement that causes the puff of air and occasionally swirls of leaves and dirt, or whatever else is around the user, in their wake.

"_Shunshin_ has several very specific rules that define its use. The first is that you can only move yourself to a spot within eyesight. _However_, your steps can be linked together, allowing the user to cover large distances in seconds so long as you know exactly where you are going. It is possible for some shinobi to get so good at _shunshin_ that they can use it nearly like a teleportation technique. I once knew an Uchiha who was actually nicknamed after it because he was able to use it in battle to make it seem like he was everywhere at once.

"Secondly, the _shunshin_ has a pretty high chakra requirement, but requires fairly low chakra control. This is one of the main reasons that technique is so wide-spread—because it's pretty easy to use. That being said, it _does_ require a lot of concentration. If you let your mind wander while you are traveling via _shunshin_, you're likely to launch yourself into a wall or floor or something equally as fatal. And even _you_ would have trouble coming back from something like that."

I shuddered at the thought of being half stuck in a brick wall. Or worse, a _person_. Knowing my luck that was exactly what would happen and then I'd wind up walking around with someone else's arm sticking out of my chest for the rest of my life. Still, even those potential horrors couldn't quite diminish my eagerness to learn the jutsu. I'd just have to be careful, that's all.

"So?" I said. "What are the hand seals?"

Hatake-sensei held up a hand. "Hold up; let me finish explaining first. Have you ever seen a shinobi using hand seals for _shunshin_?" I hesitated as I realized I hadn't and shook my head. "That's because it's impractical to do so. As I said before, the main point of using shunshin is to link the jutsu together. It would be impractical to have to pause to make a hand seal between each step. As such, shunshin is one of the few jutsu that all users learn to perform with hand seals."

"Wait, so technically it's possible to do any jutsu without hand seals, right?" I asked as the thought dawned on me. "Wouldn't that be much better than using hand seals? I mean, the enemy wouldn't be able to guess what jutsu you're about to use or anything, plus it'd be faster."

"Actually it's the opposite," Hatake-sensei said with a laugh. "We use hand seals for a reason. Yes, it's possible to use a jutsu without them, but they exist to help us mold chakra. In general if you try to mold chakra for a technique by yourself it will take far longer, and require a lot more concentration, than it would if you just used hand seals. Of course, most shinobi have certain jutsu that they use often enough that they learn to do them nearly-instantly without using hand seals, but _that_ takes years of practice and use, so it's definitely not practical for most techniques."

"But you do it for shunshin," I pointed out.

"Yes, because it's needed for technique. Plus, shunshin is actually one the easier techniques to use control-wise, so it's one of the easier ones to learn to do without seals. The only reason why it's not taught to most Genin is because it requires Chuunin-grade chakra reserves."

I shrugged. "Okay, I guess that makes sense. It just means I'll have to practice it a bunch, right?"

Damn, Hatake-sensei had brought out his evil grin again. "Exactly!" he said cheerfully. He rubbed his hands together and I felt a shiver of dread run down my spine. "Let's get started, shall we?"

_Shunshin_ will be worth it, I told myself. _Shunshin_ will be worth it, _shunshin_ will be worth it… Oh hell, this won't end well.

o-O-o

-7:00 PM, June 15, 312 TE-

-50 Miles South of Leaf-

The worst part of the mission was not the rain pouring down on him. It was not the thick, frigid mud that they were lying in. It was not the cold that had long since seeped into his bones, or the dry taste left in his mouth from eating too many ration bars, or even the cramp in his left leg that hadn't abated for over three hours. Those were material concerns—things Sasuke needed to become aquatinted with on his journey to becoming a powerful shinobi. No, the matter that he took issue with was the mind-numbing boredom that surrounded him like a cloak.

Next to Sasuke, the Wildcard dropped his head so that it was resting on the ground. He was ignoring the mud that plastered itself to his forehead in the process—not that it really made any difference; they were both already caked in it. After a moment he raised his head back up and nudged Sasuke with his elbow.

_I thought C-rank missions were supposed to be exciting,_ the Wildcard mouthed.

Sasuke shrugged. _It is a mission that Kakashi-sensei gave us,_ he replied in kind. He saw the Wildcard's lips twitch in amusement and knew that the other boy understood what he meant—that any mission or task given by Kakashi tended to be aggravating in one way or another.

Sasuke's gaze returned to the landscape around them, scanning it for any signs of movement. The two of them were lying on their stomachs on a bluff that overlooked the entrance to a small hamlet with a camouflage tarp thrown over them. It hid them completely from view, but unfortunately seemed to do very little at keeping the rain out. Worse still, the pouring rain cast a haze over the village and made what should have been a simple surveillance mission much harder.

Their objective was to watch for any messengers or travelers entering the town and immediately report on who they saw. They had not been told why they were doing so, or even who specifically to look for, which irked Sasuke a bit, though he grudgingly accepted the knowledge that as a shinobi he would often carry out orders without understanding them. So far it had been nearly three days and no one had arrived or even left the town. And in the entire time they'd been here, it had only stopped raining once for a single blissful hour.

He tensed, startled, when someone tapped his ankle. Sasuke looked back to see the Fangirl and the Mute crawling up behind them. Nodding silently to each other, he and the Wildcard moved back down the bluff so that their teammates could take their place for the next shift. The two boys moved slowly away from the town, keeping low to the ground as they did so. It took them ten minutes to get back to the base camp they had set up. Kakashi was sitting casually in a tree, reading one of his orange books. He was completely dry—the rain just slid off him. It was a chakra technique, he'd explained when it first started raining. He'd also said point blank that they weren't ready to be taught it yet.

Essentially, while they were all soaking wet and freezing cold, Kakashi was dry and comfy.

Sasuke and the Wildcard slid underneath the tan tarp they had strung up as a shelter. Grabbing a ration bar, Sasuke huffed near-silently as he sent a look at the dry clothes he had packed. He had stopped trying to change into dry clothes two days ago after realizing that it was futile.

They had barely settled in for a quick nap when the Fangirl and the Mute came stumbling into the camp. The Wildcard instantly stood back up and went over to them while Sasuke followed at a more sedate pace. "Someone went into the town," the Fangirl said in a rush, almost stumbling over her words. "It was a shinobi, I think; he was wearing a headband."

Suddenly Kakashi was standing by them. "You're sure you saw a headband?"

"Umm, yes?" the Fangirl replied. The Mute nodded in concurrence.

"Pack up and move now," Kakashi said sharply. "We're heading back to Leaf."

In a flurry of motion they took down the tarp and put away any other loose items. Less than a minute later they were heading away from the town, still keeping low to the ground and making as little noise as possible as they moved in a line. The Mute was in the front, followed by the Fangirl, Sasuke, Kakashi, and then the Wildcard. They moved at a swift pace through the woods, heading directly back to Hidden Leaf Village. Sasuke wasn't sure why they were running—Kakashi had already sent one of his dog summons ahead to report what they'd seen. It would get to Leaf long before they could.

There was a low fog rising up around them the further they moved into the forest. Sasuke hadn't noticed at first because it was thickening so slowly, but before long it grew difficult to see the ground beneath their feet, and then even the trees grew hazy.

As they passed a tall bank of dirt with large tree roots growing out of it, Kakashi stopped them. With a gesture he ordered them to back up against the dirt wall while he glanced around warily. It was nearly impossible to see more than three feet in front of them now. Even with the heavy rain, fog this thick couldn't be natural, Sasuke thought.

Kakashi reached up and pulled his forehead protector up so that it sat straight on his forehead. Sasuke didn't think much of it for the moment, beyond wondering why he had it tilted in the first place if his left eye was fine. Then Kakashi turned as he scanned through the trees and Sasuke caught a glimpse of red.

Sasuke bit down, hard, on his tongue to stop himself from crying out. Red iris circled by several black tomoe—a Sharingan. But clearly Sasuke was just seeing things, because there _could not_ be a Sharingan in his teacher's eye. Maybe it was a trick of the light from the fog, or someone other jutsu on his eye that made it appear red, or—

The tang of blood flooded his mouth as he bit into the tip of his tongue. There was no way Kakashi could have a Sharingan. He wasn't an Uchiha; couldn't be. They were all dead. There were no other Uchiha. Kakashi was not an Uchiha.

Kakashi had a Sharingan, and he was not an Uchiha.

It was only when the sound came rushing back that Sasuke realized it had faded out in the first place. "—two hostiles," the Mute was saying, his voice echoing oddly.

There was a high pitched whistle slicing through the air. Sasuke thought he was still hearing oddly until he saw the glint of metal, and then Kakashi was diving to side while a huge broadsword, easily six feet long and a foot wide, sliced through the space where he'd been a moment before. The sword was shaped like an oversized carving knife and had a circular hole in the metal near its tip that was just the right size to fit over someone's head. It stayed sunken several inches into the ground for barely half a second before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, with no sign of its wielder discernible through the near-solid fog.

Sasuke's brain stalled for several more seconds before the adrenaline finally caught up to him, and then suddenly the outlines of his teammates were sharply defined and the crunch of dirt beneath their feet echoed like snapping firecrackers. He could hear the harsh panting of his breath and the pounding of his heart, and he was sure it was inordinately loud to his teammates too, but none of them were paying the slightest attention. The Mute and the Fangirl were on his right with their backs pressed up against the dirt bank while the Wildcard stood out front next to Kakashi, a kunai in one hand and a paper seal in the other.

"Scatter!" Kakashi yelled suddenly, and Sasuke couldn't help but wince because his voice sounded like a thunderclap in the otherwise tensely still air.

Regardless, months of learning to listen to Kakashi's every order without hesitation paid off, and the four of them instantly jumped in different directions. As Sasuke pulled out of the somersault he'd tucked into, he heard more sharp whistles cutting through the air. When he looked back, he saw a number of a thin metal spikes stuck into the dirt—senbon. The Wildcard, apparently the only one who hadn't moved, growled audibly as he yanked several of them out of his arm.

As Kakashi straightened he began to run through several hand seals, forming them faster than Sasuke could follow. A moment later he placed his hands against his mouth as though he was going to use a fireball jutsu, but instead of blowing out fire he instead released a great burst of wind. The fog seemed to bend, then swirled around as it was dispersed from the area before them. It quickly began to coalesce again, but for the moment it was more than enough to reveal the shape of a tall man standing a dozen paces away with the giant cleaver resting on his shoulder and a maniacal grin on his face.

"Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi immediately identified him. Sasuke wracked his brain for the name, but it wasn't one he recognized.

The Sword Freak's grin widened, and abruptly all thoughts of identifying him fled Sasuke's mind. The very air around Sasuke tightened, gripping his chest and driving the air from his lungs. He choked, and distantly heard his teammates doing the same, as an invisible force pressed down on them all and pure terror flooded their veins. Sasuke could swear he could feel the Death God standing over them, reaching down to pull out their souls. His heart was thudding in his chest a thousand times faster than it had been before and cold sweat was pouring down the back his of neck. He could feel his hands shaking, then his whole body was wracked with tremors as the undeniable urge to flee flooded through his every pore. The icy hand of the Death God gripped his heart and prepared to rip it out of his chest, still beating—

The Wildcard drove a kunai through the palm of his hand while still snarling. Sasuke jerked physically and stared in shock, and immediately felt the invisible pressure vanish as though it'd never been there. He gulped down deeps breaths of air as his mind quickly catalogued what he'd felt as Killing Intent. It paled in comparison to what he'd felt during the Massacre, but…

There was a flicker movement on either side of them. While Sasuke was still gathering his bearings, Kakashi and the Wildcard were already moving, each dispatching the clones of the Sword Freak that had appeared. Their forms wavered, then ruptured into water, but before that water had even collapsed in on itself there was another flash of metal. A third Sword Freak materialized before Kakashi while the Jounin was still in mid-swing and cut through him with his cleaver. Before the shock could set in again, Kakashi's form burst into smoke and two halves of a log fell to the ground. The Sword Freak jumped back and the fog rushed in again, churning agitatedly and hiding any sign of Kakashi or their assailant.

For a second none of them moved or so much as breathed. Then the Wildcard cursed and they all straightened up and drew together in a defensive formation.

_Enemy, trees, away, waiting,_ the Mute signed to them. _Sensei, underground, waiting._

_Hostile #2, location?_ the Wildcard questioned in kind.

The Mute just shook his head. Gulping, the Fangirl tightly gripped her kunai, hands still shaking. Sasuke refused to admit that he was in nearly the same state. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like—that certainty that you were going to die. He clenched his jaw hard enough to grind his teeth together. He wasn't going to allow anyone to make him feel that way again.

A glint caught the corner of Sasuke's eye. He looked down at their feet, searching for its source. His gaze landed on a small…mirror? Instantly alarm bells were set off in his head. He didn't need to call out a warning—his teammates were in tune with him enough, and already wary enough, that as soon as he tensed they saw the mirror as well. All four of them were able to dodge when the senbon erupted from its smooth surface.

Sasuke snatched the mirror up. He was careful to direct it away from them, but almost dropped it when he realized how cold it was. "Ice," he said aloud, surprised. At nearly the same time he saw a flash of red and white on its surface and then it melted into water in his hands. Sasuke's his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

_Clone dead_, the Mute signed grimly.

He had sent out one of his Kikaichū clones to find the second attacker, Sasuke assumed. It was probably the senbon-wielder. If they had already found and destroyed one of the Mute's clones then there was no doubt that they were dangerous.

The Fangirl lashed out suddenly. Sasuke's head snapped toward her just in time to see her kunai bounce off another ice mirror with a loud _clink_. There was no way Sasuke would have seen this mirror if she hadn't pointed it out. It was much larger than the one he'd picked up—as large as a person, he'd say—and it blended into the trees and the fog perfectly. Team Kakashi drew closer to each other again, each of them warily looking around for the other mirrors that could easily be surrounding them.

Sasuke felt his agitation rising each second that nothing attacked them. What was the enemy waiting for? They obviously had the upper hand, so ambushing them and taking them out as quickly as possible was the logical course of action.

At the edge of his vision, Sasuke was aware of the Wildcard and the Fangirl quickly signing back and forth as they came up with a plan. A second later the Wildcard tilted his head toward Sasuke and signed, _Distraction._ Sasuke nodded briskly.

It took two seconds to complete the hand seals for the Grand Fireball technique, and another half a second to send the large burst of flame at the ice mirror. When the last sparks of the fire faded away however, the mirror hadn't melted—in fact, it looked like it hadn't been singed at all. Sasuke's eye twitched as his annoyance made itself known. It was _ice_. Ice was supposed to _melt_.

As Sasuke ran through the seals again, he saw multiple _bunshin_ from the Wildcard and the Fangirl pop up. Most of them were from the Wildcard, and as they dashed through the mist it was impossible to tell what they were doing. Sasuke put it out of his mind for now and focused on his job, which at the moment meant getting rid of that damn mirror. He put more chakra into the technique this time and adjusted one of the seals to make the fire burn hotter, but to his tremendous frustration he got the same result—which was nothing.

Using _bunshin_ as decoys for whatever the Wildcard was doing worked, however, because suddenly hundreds of senbon were flying through the air. Most of them passed harmlessly through the illusions, but the _bunshin_ dodged along with the real members of Team Kakashi to keep up the ruse. Sasuke dropped to the ground to avoid another volley and the Mute crouched at his side. Sasuke nearly missed the rapid _Switch_ that the other boy signed to him before he leapt away and created another two of his bug clones.

As it was he didn't bother to reply before leaping away himself, and then using a quick _henge_ to switch appearances with the Mute as he moved through the fog. The dirt bank was still at their back, a comfortable shield instead of a blockade as it might have been in another situation. Sasuke considered sending out another fireball, but they clearly weren't doing any damage and he only had enough chakra for two more of them, maybe three if he wanted to have his teammates drag his unconscious body off the battlefield.

A low rumble and then a dull _clang_ echoed from somewhere far ahead of them. It was impossible to guess the distance thanks to the muffling effect of the fog, but Sasuke assumed it was from Kakashi and the Sword Freak's fighting. The Mute probably would have said something by now if there were more assailants.

The fog had thinned a bit, at least. It was enough for Sasuke to faintly make the forms of several other ice mirrors attached to various trees around them. They seemed at first to be placed haphazardly, but they were all aimed inward at a focal point. At first Sasuke guessed it was the jutsu's point of origin, but as he observed—deflecting incoming senbon with kunai and shuriken as he did so—he realized that the enemy was actually dashing in between the mirrors like a lethal pinball. They were wearing a red and white mask, but that was all that Sasuke could see—they were moving almost too fast for his eyes to see, and as it was he could only catch glimpses of them as they paused momentarily on the ground before leaping off to another mirror. While they were actually in the air, they move so fast that they weren't even a blur.

Sasuke saw the smoke buckle and swirl as the Wildcard used _shunshin_ to appear a few feet away, next to one of the mirrors. The blond's attention was focused on something in his hand and then he was gone again, leaving the fog to rush back into the space he'd been occupying.

One of the Mute's clones abruptly exploded into a cloud of Kikaichū. They seemed to flare up like one of Sasuke's fireballs before darting forward and enveloping the masked enemy. Sasuke's heart leapt with glee for a second, sure that they had won, but the enemy had already been moving toward an ice mirror when the Kikaichū attacked and has he collided with it he seemed to literally melt into it, leaving the insects to slam into the hard surface with a _crunch_ that caused Team Kakashi to cringe, and the Mute to pale and sway on his feet.

Even through the fog, Sasuke could see the way the Wildcard's eyes narrowed. He gestured to the Fangirl and as one they jerked their hands up and backwards with their fingers splayed out. Thanks to the fog Sasuke didn't seem the glimmer shinobi wire that he instantly realized was wrapped around their fingers, but that just meant that their attacker wouldn't see it either. He eagerly looked to the center of the area they'd been fighting in, waiting for the enemy to appear and walk right into the trap that his teammates had set up—at the speeds the masked man was moving, he'd been torn to shreds instantly.

The enemy did appear, but wasn't trapped. Instead all Sasuke saw was another hail of senbon, and then—

Sasuke froze, face turning white. The masked shinobi had appeared behind the Fangirl, one arm wrapped around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides, while the other held a senbon up to her neck. All movement ceased and even the fog itself seemed to hold its breath as it stilled thanks the sudden lapse of the rapid movement that had been making it roil like a turbulent sea. The enemy didn't say anything, but he didn't need to.

Still, questions ran through Sasuke's head at a dizzying pace. The only reason for these enemy shinobi to attack them was to stop or kill them, so why hadn't the masked man killed the Fangirl already? Why take her hostage? For that matter, his attacks with the senbon seemed more like a distraction than lethal strikes, and his ability to instantly get behind one of them when he wanted to all but proved that. So what was he doing then—stalling them? For what, the Sword Freak? But why come after them in the first place if they only intended to stall them?

The sudden fluctuation of chakra and the accompanying smoke took Sasuke by surprise. He stared on in horror as the Wildcard used an overpowered version of _Kawarimi_ to switch himself with the Fangirl. The horror came not from the Wildcard's move, but rather from how the enemy instinctively reacted to it—by driving the senbon into his hostage's neck.

Naruto dropped like a bag of stones, and the enemy vanished. The Fangirl let out a cry as she ran forward to the blond's motionless form.

A pulse of burning fire shot through Sasuke's veins. He snarled in silent rage and pivoted on his foot, but he could see no sign of their assailant and even the ice mirrors were gone. He glanced at the Mute, but he shook his head, unable to sense the enemy. An unsettling silence had settled over the forest, broken only by the Fangirl's frantic shuffling as she hovered over their downed comrade.

No, this wasn't right, Sasuke realized. The masked shinobi hadn't been aiming to kill. Therefore, Naruto couldn't be dead. The enemy could have killed them at any time, so he wouldn't just suddenly chose to do so, even if caught by surprise. Naruto couldn't be dead. Naruto wasn't dead.

Without another thought, Sasuke reached down and yanked out the senbon in the Wildcard's neck. The Fangirl cried out again in surprise and the Mute tensed, but Sasuke wasn't paying attention to either of them because it wasn't logical for Naruto to be dead.

When the Wildcard took in a deep shuddering breath, Sasuke sat back on his heels and smirked in a self-satisfied manner. There, proof. The Wildcard wasn't dead.

"God," the Fangirl gasped. Her eyes were shining with moisture and even the Mute seemed shaken. "I—" She hesitated while the Wildcard blinked up at them blearily, but quickly grew in confidence. "I've heard of senbon being used to create death-like states before. That must be it…"

"What?" the Wildcard said, his voice oddly slurred.

The Fangirl just laughed delightedly and shook her head. Without further warning she suddenly lunged forward and hugged the Wildcard tightly, eliciting a strangled yelp from him. Of course, a second later she held him at arm's length and shook him violently.

"You scared that crap out of me!" she snapped. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Uh—" The Wildcard hastily pried her hands of his shoulders and clambered to his feet. He looked half panicked, half uncomfortable, but managed to quickly hide his emotions. "Where's Hatake-sensei?" he asked.

Sasuke stood as well and glanced about. The fog was definitely thinner now, allowing them to see about a dozen paces in any direction. But it was also unsettlingly quiet. Whatever sounds of battle they'd heard earlier had long since fallen silent.

_Search, B formation_, the Wildcard signed to them. The Mute nodded and half a second later the Fangirl shakily did so as well. The Mute took point and raised a hand, sending out a few more of his Kikaichū. Sasuke and the Fangirl fanned out on either side of him while the Wildcard took the rear.

They moved swiftly and silently through the trees. It only took the Mute a few seconds to pick up on Kakashi's trail, and he led them straight to a clearing that had probably only been created in the past half an hour if uprooted trees and gouges in the earth were any indication. Kakashi was in the middle of the space, down on one knee with his head bowed. Across from him was the Sword Freak—who looked worn and exhausted and whose clothing was more torn and bloodied than not, Sasuke noted vindictively—but what really caught his attention were the additional two masked shinobi who stood between them, facing the Sword Freak.

No words passed between the Sword Freak and the masked shinobi—they just jumped at each other's throats. The Sword Freak roared as he swung his giant cleaver and nearly took the head off one of them. Even as his sword was deflected however, a third masked shinobi joined the fray and helped to defend him—it was Hostile #2, Sasuke was sure. Team Kakashi didn't even have a chance to think about joining in the fight. All four of the shinobi were moving at ridiculous speeds, and the newcomers forced the Sword Freak and Hostile #2 back into the forest in the time it took to blink. A moment later, even the clanging of the Sword Freak's blade had faded out.

The Wildcard ran to Kakashi's side, followed quickly by the Fangirl. "Are you alright sensei?" the girl whispered frantically. "Who were they?"

"Mist Hunter-nin," Kakashi muttered, head still bowed. Sasuke saw that the eye holding his Sharingan was once again covered by his forehead protector. "We should be fine; they're focused on Zabuza. Need…to move to Leaf…"

Whatever else he tried to say was inaudible as Kakashi slumped forward. Before Sasuke could really comprehend what had happeend the Wildcard was already moving, his hands rapidly checking Kakashi's pulse and catalogue his injuries.

"His wounds are deep, but he's just unconscious," the Wildcard said grimly.

"We need to go _now_. If those really were Mist Hunter-nin, then there's no guarantee they won't attack us too," the Fangirl said anxiously.

Sasuke frowned. "Aren't they hunting the…Zabuza?"

The Fangirl shook her head. "Doesn't matter; we're still from another village. They wouldn't hesitate to take us out if they think we know something or saw something we shouldn't have. The fact that we're just Genin and Kakashi-sensei is already out only makes it worse—they could easily pin our deaths on Zabuza and his comrade."

Sometimes Sasuke forgot that the Fangirl was the daughter of an interrogator, but her intimate knowledge of shinobi politics was definitely useful at times like this. He met the Wildcard's gaze and an understanding passed between them. Sasuke grabbed Kakashi's shoulders while the Wildcard took a hold of his legs and with some hefting they managed to lift the Jounin between them. Again the Mute took the lead and directed them through the forest while the Fangirl trailed along a few paces behind them, keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of movement in mist.

o-O-o

A/N: I couldn't just forget about Zabuza and Haku, now could I? Of course, that doesn't mean they're up to the same old tricks as in canon. It was pretty fun to write this fight scene though, since it helps to highlight the differences between how Team Kakashi are compared to canon's Team 7.

Next chapter will be up much sooner, I promise, with more to follow.

S.R.

_When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it, and hang on.  
-Thomas Jefferson_


	19. Chapter 13: Berserk

Posted: Feb 12, 2013  
Last Updated: Feb 23, 2013  
Chapter WC: 8,012  
Story WC: 86,806

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 13  
_Berserk_

* * *

-12:00 AM, June 16, 312 TE-

-Somewhere South of Leaf-

Sasuke's ears strained against the night, but he could hear nothing beyond the harsh panting of their breath and the quite taps of their footsteps. It was awkward, slow going to carry Kakashi between the Wildcard and himself, but they were so focused on escaping that they hardly noticed. The Mute stayed out front, using his insects to constantly scout their path while the Fangirl hung back a pace behind them, on guard for when—or if—they were attacked.

"He's still bleeding," the Wildcard said suddenly. Sasuke looked over to see that grim frown was marring the blond's face. "We need to get him stable before we make it back home."

Sasuke's frown mirrored his. "We can't stop—we'll be sitting ducks."

The Wildcard lapsed back into silence for a few minutes, but from the corner of his eye Sasuke could see the conflicted expression he was wearing. "I…" The blond hesitated for a moment long, then his lips thinned and his eyes grew hard. "I know of a safe house we can use. Once Hatake-sensei is stable we'll move on."

Sasuke's mind ran through a thousand different reasons why the Wildcard might know of a safe house, but he verbalized none of them. "How far away is it?" he asked shortly.

"Not far, but we'll need to get to a road first so that I can orient myself."

"No. That is too dangerous—"

"Dammit Uchiha, Hatake-sensei might _die_ if we don't stop," the Wildcard snarled with surprising hostility. "Going near a road is a risk, but we might get attacked anyway and not stopping is pretty much a fucking assurance that this won't end well."

Sasuke grunted, unable to disagree. "Not like we have much of a choice then," he muttered. He raised his voice and called out, "Shino. We are heading toward the road."

The Mute looked back and nodded, not bothering to question the decision.

They wound their way through the dark forest as quickly as they could despite the heavy exhaustion that hung over them. Chakra was a powerful tool but also a draining one, and relatively short as the fight may have been it had still sapped away most of their stamina. Before they even reached the road, however, the Wildcard slowed, staring at the ground. Sasuke saw nothing more than stones in the earth, but he apparently recognized a landmark of some kind. The Wildcard adjusted their course, sending them back into the depths of the woods.

Kakashi-sensei had grown pale and clammy, Sasuke noted with some worry. This safe house the Wildcard was leading them to had better be good enough to hide them for the night.

The Wildcard stopped suddenly as they entered a clearing. He glanced over at Sasuke and gave him a searching look. "Can you see it?" he asked.

Annoyance flared within Sasuke for a moment before logic smothered it—the Wildcard wouldn't be asking such an apparently inane question without reason, and especially not during such an emergency. He swallowed the incensed retort that had been on the tip of his tongue and instead said, "No."

The Wildcard nodded as though he'd been expecting that answer. He led them forward slowly until they were near the middle of the clearing and made sure that the rest of their teammates gathered round.

"What's this about?" the Fangirl asked. She glanced nervously about the area. "Where's the safe house?"

The Wildcard grinned suddenly. It was a wild, satisfied grin, like he was about to share his biggest secret. "The safe house…" he began. He paused for dramatic effect, grin widening. "…Is one mile beneath our feet."

Sasuke gave him a blank look. "What are you—"

Abruptly a massive seal lit up beneath their feet. Sasuke caught the barest glimpse of a large figure standing over them merely feet away before the world around him shifted and blurred, and then suddenly there were no more trees or grass or sky, just gray walls and a cold concrete floor.

"…Talking about?" he finished after a delay.

The Fangirl squealed and jumped. She spun around on one heel to take in the entire room. Sasuke leaned back, feigning nonchalance and hiding just how fast his heart was beating. The room they were in was enormous, larger than anything he had seen before. There was odd yellow writing on three of the walls, and metal on the fourth.

It was toward this wall that the Wildcard headed. Sasuke was forced along as they were still carrying Kakashi, but Shino and Ino hesitated for a moment longer, still looking around.

"That was a seal, wasn't it?" the Fangirl questioned aloud.

The Wildcard grunted in reply. When they got to the metal wall he carefully set Kakashi down, then pressed his hand onto some kind of square that was mounted there. Sasuke flinched when the square bleeped loudly and a green light flashed on its top. He tightened his grip on their sensei and resisted every instinct in his body that was screaming to run when the metal wall suddenly shuddered and then began to slowly rise while groaning loudly.

Team Kakashi watched speechlessly as the door rose. "Who needs a door that big?" Sasuke mused aloud. He glanced at the Wildcard. "I saw something, up there, before the seal…moved us. Something huge. What was it?"

"Eh, just a statue," the Wildcard said while waving his free hand dismissively. "It's under some kind of a Genjutsu or something. Anyway, come on; there's a room with some beds right nearby."

"What is this place?" the Fangirl asked. There was a faint trace of awe in her voice that Sasuke had to mutely agree with; this wasn't quite what he'd pictured when the Wildcard had said 'safe house.'

For a moment the Wildcard didn't look like he was going to answer. They passed two normal-sized closed metal doors before he said, "We don't know much yet. It's old though; it was abandoned years ago."

He stopped at the third door and pressed his hand onto another one of those squares. After it beeped and flashed green this time, Sasuke was able to see that there was a small circular seal of some kind on the pad. There was a metallic whirling sound and then the metal door smoothly slid open. There were a dozen beds inside, like the Wildcard had said. They were little more than metal slabs however—some kind of infirmary, Sasuke guessed. One the right side of each bed was a low cabinet.

What he'd seen so far of this 'safe house' reminded Sasuke of a military compound more than anything else. The rooms were obviously secured and the hallways were defendable, and never mind the part where they were apparently a _mile_ under the earth. Sasuke had never even heard of Leaf having any bunkers that were so deep.

With a grunt they hoisted Kakashi up onto the first of these beds. "Yamanaka, can you look through the cabinets for anything we can use? Tools, blankets—anything," the Wildcard said with a gesture toward the cabinets that were next to each of the beds.

The Fangirl nodded mutely. After a moment, the Mute joined her in the search as well. Sasuke hovered over the bed, feeling awkward and useless while the Wildcard started to first carefully check Kakashi's vital signs, and then his wounds. Sasuke helped him cut off Kakashi's already ruined shirt without needing prompting. He swallowed thickly at the sight of all the deep gashes on their teacher's torso. Sasuke looked away as his stomach rolled. The last time he'd seen that much blood…

An odd sound made Sasuke look up again. The Fangirl blushed and cleared her throat while avoiding looking at Kakashi. "Here, we found this," she said as she thrust out her hands. The Wildcard wiped his hands on his pants before taking the two large rolls of bandages she was holding. "They were in a bin in the back," she added.

"Anything else?"

She shook her head. "Not really. There were a couple of plastic objects, but I don't know what they are…"

"Put them on the counter over here," the Wildcard instructed.

The blond haired boy walked over to the long, deep sink that ran along the front part of the room, next to the door. It spluttered for a moment, but to Sasuke's surprised it worked and clean, clear water quickly came pouring out. It was also ridiculously hot if the steam rising from it was any indication. The Wildcard swiftly washed his hands until they turned bright red beneath the scalding water. He walked to where he'd left his pack near the bed next, took out a clean shirt, soaked it in the water, and then returned to Kakashi's side and began to wipe away the blood.

"He should survive," the Wildcard said as he worked. Sasuke realized that his voice was completely flat and devoid of emotion. Since they'd arrived here he'd been mostly expressionless and withdrawn, now that Sasuke thought about it. "I'll bandage him to stop the bleeding and we'll get him to Leaf in the morning. It shouldn't take more than another day to get there, and then the medic-nin can heal him. He'll be all right."

Sasuke turned away. He was sick of all the blood, and sick of everything that had happened that day. He put his hands in his pockets and clenched them into fists to stop them from shaking. He had promised himself that he'd never fail again, that he would never watch anyone die. But Kakashi was behind him, laid out on a table and possibly dying. How was that all right?

o-O-o

-4:00 AM, June 16, 312 TE-

-Underground Compound-

I didn't sleep that night. Yamanaka was curled up on one of the metal beds, Aburame had shoved himself into a corner with his knees drawn up to his chest, and even Sasuke was resting up against the wall, though his sleep was restless and filled with twitches as though he was having a nightmare. I was sitting cross-legged on the bed next to Hatake-sensei, watching him with blank eyes. He was too still, I kept thinking. Too still, too pale, and still sweating too much. He probably had a fever, which could mean an infection, or poison, or…

I rubbed my eyes abruptly. I couldn't let myself get drawn into all the what-ifs or I'd drive myself crazy. As it was I was having a bit of a problem thinking straight; I was feeling too numb and my thoughts kept diving off into random tangents. I couldn't tell if it was the shock of everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, or exhaustion, or just…

Hours must have passed before my teammates stirred. Uchiha woke first; I wasn't even sure when, as he kept still for a long time before I realized that his eyes were open. He was watching Hatake-sensei and I, his expression unreadable. Aburame and Yamanaka woke at nearly the same time. We all silently shared a couple ration bars for a meal.

When I checked up on Hatake-sensei again, he seemed stable, but he definitely had a fever. "We need to get to Leaf…" I said. "How are your chakra reserves? Will you guys be able to run at full speed?"

With a grimace Yamanaka shook her head. "I'm only about half full," she said. When Aburame nodded she added, "We should probably rest for another two to three hours. By then we should be able to make it back without having to stop."

Uchiha shifted and stood. "I want to look around before we leave. There might be something useful." He was staring at me while he spoke, making me grimace and look away.

It was pretty damn obvious to me that Uchiha wanted to grill me privately, not actually look around. No one had asked any questions yet about where we were or how I'd known about it, but it was only a matter of time. I sighed and raked a hand through my hair before nodding.

"Can you watch sensei?" I asked Yamanaka and Aburame. "We'll go see if we can find anything."

Aburame just stared silently. Yamanaka hesitated for a moment before nodding minutely. Taking that as being as much consent as I was going to get, I looked over Hatake-sensei one last time and made sure that his bandages were tight and that the bleeding had mostly stopped. Then I took out the communicator set we had with us and hooked the earpiece around my ear.

When my teammates had done the same I said, "The signal should work fine within the compound. Just call if anything changes or if Hatake-sensei wakes up—though I don't expect that he will yet; he's still suffering from a pretty bad case of chakra exhaustion."

I left without waiting for a reply and Uchiha followed. We walked down the hallway in silence for a fair ways, past the section I'd already explored with Akihito. I stopped in front of a door I hadn't opened before and stared at it, wondering if it was safe to enter or if there'd be another collapsed ceiling.

Uchiha didn't wait for me to decide. My eyebrows rose as he pressed his hand to the seal on the access pad by the door, but the light above it dinged red and it stayed closed. That answered one question I'd had—the seals weren't responding to any chakra, just mine. I could only guess that it had something to do with me entering the compound first, before Akihito.

"Why does it work for you?" Uchiha asked suspiciously.

"It's, uh, keyed to my chakra signature." Uchiha raised an eyebrow, prompting me to roll my eyes. "It's complicated, okay?" I grumbled.

"'Complicated' isn't an answer."

"It's the answer that you're getting."

We glared at each other for a moment longer, neither of us willing to give in. Without breaking eye contact I reached over and put my hand on the door seal. This time the light turned green and the door swished open.

_That_ grabbed Uchiha's attention. He broke away from out impromptu deadlock to stare into the room beyond. It looked kind of like a storeroom, I thought as I turned away as well. It was only about the size of my bedroom and filled with wooden crates and cabinets. I wondered why the crates hadn't rotted yet but didn't voice my thoughts aloud, not quite willing to fill Uchiha in on just how old this compound was.

Uchiha walked over to one of the crates and pried off its lid. It was filled with a bunch of long, black, metallic…things. I was at a completely loss for how to describe them as we sifted through the objects. One end was about the size of a brick, only thinner and wider at one end. The thinner end was attached perpendicularly to a handle with a soft, gel-like grip that fit smoothly in my hand, making the entire object look like a sideways L. There were odd lines and designs engraved on its side and a deep slit down the front end. I'd never seen anything similar before, and from the perplexed expression on Uchiha's face, he hadn't either.

"What the hell is this?" he asked, sounding almost personally affronted. He held up one of them, examining the black metal. "These almost look like seals."

I shrugged. "Dunno," I said, and when he fixed that _look_ on me, I rolled my eyes again. "I really don't. There's a lot of stuff like that here."

Putting down the lid, Uchiha turned to fully face me. "Where are we?" he asked seriously, without any trace of the annoyance he'd been showing a moment ago.

I hesitated, honestly not sure how to answer that question. I'd been trying to think of some kind of explanation since I'd first started considering bringing my team here, but at this point even the truth sounded ridiculous. My hands started growing sweaty so I put down the black object on top of the lid, afraid that I would drop it.

"It's complicated," I hedged at last, but Uchiha's stare didn't even waver. I sighed and rubbed the back of my head roughly. Well, when in doubt it was always best to fall back on my old habits—namely, blame someone else. "Really, it is. And it's not my secret to share. I swore that I wouldn't reveal this place. Technically I shouldn't have even brought you guys here, but…" I waved vaguely back toward where our teammates and sensei were. In all honesty, I was pretty sure that Akihito would be fine with me bringing my team here, considering the circumstances, but Uchiha didn't need to know that.

Uchiha's expression darkened and he gritted his teeth. "We followed you here," he bit out in low, measured tones. "We are a mile underground in a _locked_ complex that only _you_ can open. We are all exhausted and our sensei is unconscious and critically wounded. The very _least_ you can do is to tell us _where we are_.

"It's a fucking complex!" I snapped back defensively. I took a step back toward the door and Uchiha stepped forward, glowering. "It's complex that's underground and that's been abandoned. There's nothing else to fucking say! I already told you that I promised Akihito—"

"This is an underground complex filled with _things_," Uchiha said, shaking the black object at me like a weapon. "This is not _normal_. This is not something you just happen across!"

I shifted back on one foot, ready to run. The hairs on my arms prickled and rose as both Uchiha and I gathered our chakra, more out of instinct than any actual intent to use it. Uchiha opened his mouth to continue his tirade, but was cut off by a faint humming sound.

What happened next occurred in the fraction of a second, and it was only because we were so used to tracking high-speed objects that the sight registered at all. The lines on the sides of black object that Uchiha was holding up began glow blue as though lit up from the inside. The slit on the front end, still facing me, shined brighter for a moment before light exploded from it and shot out like an arrow, accompanied by a sharp whining sound. Beyond it I could see Uchiha staring with wide, shocked eyes.

Then the light hit me.

o-O-o

-5:00 AM, June 16, 312 TE-

-Underground Compound-

It felt like I'd been crushed by the Hokage Tower. Scratch that—it felt like I'd been crushed by the Tower, then been dug up, kicked around by a dozen ANBU, mauled by Tokui, buried in a graved, dug up again, flattened by a cart a few times, and finally dropped into the ocean. My head was throbbing as though my brain was pounding on my skull in all directions, desperate to break out, and my stomach was roiling like a sea beneath a hurricane. Every bone in my body ached as though they had been removed, stretched out, and then put back in place. My muscles were contracting in random, aching twitches, and my skin felt like it had been stretched over my frame and was ready to tear off at any moment.

A soft, mangled whimpering sound met my ears. It took a minute to realize that I was its source, and I then became immediately aware that my throat was burning raw as though I'd swallowed a flaming sword. Every movement I made sent waves of pain shooting through my body and my mind was so hazy and jumbled that I couldn't even remember my own name.

I don't know how long it was that I laid there—it could have been hours, or maybe only minutes. All I know is that slowly the agony faded away and eventually I realized that the gray blur I was staring up at was actually a ceiling. The room was filled only with the harsh sounds of my breathing. It was difficult to draw in each breath, as though my chest was being constricted but I laboriously pushed on, knowing, without understanding why, that it was urgent that I recover as quickly as possible.

When at last I could move without feeling as though I would black out again at any moment, I heaved myself onto my feet. The world swam around me and I slipped to one knee. My stomach felt like it was trying to rip itself to shreds and I leaned over and heaved several times, but nothing came out.

"God," I gasped. I shook my head and my brain rattled painfully with it, but I couldn't even feel that over the sensation of my body trying to eat itself. It wasn't just from sickness and agony either—I had never felt so ravenously hungry before in my life, not even when I'd starved for a week.

Pushing myself back up, I staggered forward. There was something black on the floor a few feet away. I stared down at it for a minute before realizing that it was a singed, ripped piece of cloth, and then belatedly noticed that I wasn't wearing a shirt. Looking down at myself, I saw that a good portion of my visible skin was covered in a dry, flaking blood. My pants were more brownish-red than orange now and mostly ruined too—one leg was completely missing blow the knee and the other was charred and blackened, with the bottom quarter hanging on by only a couple of wire threads. Beneath the grime, my skin was unblemished despite the obvious damage I'd taken.

I sluggishly glanced around. I was in a large room in the underground compound—that much was obvious. There had been furniture in it, but most of them had been smashed to pieces or were toppled over. There were several large burn marks on the walls and floor, as well as what looked like claw marks that gouged into them, tearing them up and leaving long lines behind as though they were made from paper instead of metal and concrete.

Slurring I said, "Where…? We forest was…" I trailed off, wincing. "We was forest—" I tried again, but that definitely still wasn't right. My head throbbed harder.

Stumbling forward again, I tried to remember how I'd gotten here. My team and I had been in the forest, carrying Hatake-sensei. We'd been heading toward this compound, and then… Then I'd woken up here after apparently going a few rounds with a Kage. I couldn't remember anything else—there was just a big black hole between then and now.

The haze around my mind was finally beginning to disperse, at least, and I was finally able to stand up straight, though my stomach protested the motion. It made a few alien growling sounds, reminding me that I was voraciously hungry. I groaned aloud but pushed the feeling into a dark corner of my mind with ease that came from practice.

There was a doorway to my right, but it had been half collapsed. Grunting and straining I managed to lodge one of my shoulders underneath a thin beam of metal just enough to shift it to the side. The frame shuddered and I leaped back in case it buckled further, but after a few trembling moments it stilled. There now was just enough space for me to slip out of the room so I quickly did so while trying my hardest not to disturb the debris any further. The hallway outside was just as damaged as the room I'd come from, and the floor in particular was littered with even more scratch marks.

Briefly I wondered if Tokui was here somehow. The marks were large enough that he could have created them, but… I shook the idea off. Tokui and I had agreed that it would be best for him to stay in Leaf during long distance missions like this one, at least until he had recovered more. It was easy to forget sometimes that just a few months ago he'd been so near death, but there was a reason why he spent most of his days sleeping or eating my chakra.

But if Tokui hadn't created those marks…

I shuddered and drew my gaze away. I couldn't recognize the hall I was in, and it continued out of sight in both directions. With some hesitance I decide to head down the left, undamaged side of the hall. I had no desire to meet whatever had created those marks, I thought with a shiver. I seriously hoped we hadn't awakened some kind of hidden defense in the compound, though even that wouldn't explain my missing memory.

Unfortunately for me, the hall only went on for a hundred meters, turned to the left sharply, and then stopped a dozen meters further at an abrupt dead end. I halted in front of the metal door there and rested my head against it with a frustrated growl. I loathed not being in control like this, and I loathed not knowing what was going on even more. There was no sign of my teammates and Hatake-sensei could be dead for all I knew. I hated feeling so damn helpless!

When my stomach tried to heave again I released my building anger in a long drawn out sigh. I looked up at the door I was in front of. It was different from most of the others I'd seen down here, barring some of those in the "giant" section of the compound. Its metal was thicker and darker than other doors, there were three flattened bars that were about half a foot wide running horizontally across it, and the access pad on the wall was larger than usual, with a different, more complex seal.

I didn't even hesitate in lifting my hand to the seal, though my lack of caution might have been a byproduct of my still jumbled mind. There was an electric buzzing followed by a heavy click, and then the three bars slid away to the side with barely a whisper. They settled into place out view with a dull _thunk_ and then the door itself smoothly lifted upward.

I stared. That was really all I could do. The room beyond the heavy door was filled with screens and equipment and cables. The floor was a metal grill with circular holes instead of concrete, and there was a soft hum filling the room. I stepped forward slowly and the door sealed itself behind him. The room was chilly, as though ventilated. I could only see parts of it through the maze of equipment and counters, and my gaze was immediately drawn to the thick cables protruding from behind the machines. The cables were bundled together and then run up the walls and along the ceiling before disappearing into vents.

What struck me the most, however, was that almost all of the machines were turned on. Odd symbols, images, and numbers flickered past on the screens. There were flat keyboards before most of them, making me think that they were computers. But if so, then they were unlike any computer I'd ever seen before—though granted I'd only ever seen one when I had to get a checkup at Leaf Central Hospital. I wondered if these were the machines keeping the electric lights and recycled air in the compound running.

As I walked further into the room I peered at the different screens, but couldn't make heads or tails of the information they were displaying. One of them had a series of line graphs that were fluctuating, and below that hundreds of numbers quickly scrolled past. Another screen that was mounted directly above it was completely filled with lines of indecipherable text that changed and rewrote themselves even as I watched. There was even a huge screen hanging from the ceiling that seemed to have been made solely of a half an inch thick sheet of glass. It was filled with more text and lines, all of which were blue and glowing slightly. I walked behind it, fascinated but unable to understand how the glass was displaying its images like it was.

The room was even larger than I'd initial thought. Though relatively narrow, it extended back seemingly without end. A few dozen meters along there was a faint glow that lit up the area around it far better than the electric lights above could, and cast a blue-green glow on the equipment around it. I approached curiously, but then stopped dead as I rounded a large, faintly beeping machined.

There, up against a wall, was a tall glass tube that reached up nearly to the ceiling. There were a dozen cables extending from it, each about as thick as one of my legs, and several machines were crowded around it, all of them humming or beeping. The tube itself was filled up with a viscous green liquid and it was instantly obvious that it was the source of the bright glow. All of the hairs on my body was standing on end and a shiver ran across my skin, giving off the exact same sensation I get when I'm near someone who is gathering their chakra.

The tube and its weird liquid wasn't what had made me stop short though. No, the source of my sudden, utterly dumbfounded shock was what was floating in the liquid: a human man.

Or at least I assumed he was human. It was actually highly debatable considering the circumstances.

But it was definitely a man, nearly naked except for a pair of small, skin tight, black elastic shorts. He was floating upright in the thick green liquid, short black hair hovering around his head like a halo. He was young side of middle-aged, perhaps only a few years older than Hatake-sensei and had the toned body of a fighter. His tanned skin was littered with an assortment of scars, including a nasty collection of scar tissue that was splashed on his chest like a star or an exploding firework, directly over where his heart would be. His eyes were closed, but he was slowly breathing the viscous liquid in and out.

My already dropped jaw fell a little further. God, he was breathing! I could see his chest moving ever so slightly with each prolonged breath and the liquid around his mouth moved sluggishly, causing the reflections of light on the glass tube to ripple faintly.

I stepped closer apprehensively. Other than the nearly unnoticeable rise and fall of his chest, the man was completely still, not so much as twitching. I realized now that one of the machines next to the tube was a heart monitor, and it was beeping steadily, if more slowly than was probably normal. I swallowed thickly, unable to tear my gaze away from this unbelievable sight. Of all the peculiar things I'd discovered in this underground complex, this was far and above the most astounding. Even standing here before this man, staring up at him, I still couldn't entirely wrap my mind around it.

I continued to stare for several minutes longer before reluctantly remembering that I still had to find my team. As soon all of this was cleared up though I was going to immediately send a message to Akihito so that we could get back here as soon as possible. Something like this… This was far beyond what either of us had imagined finding down here.

At last I managed to pull my gaze away and turn my back on the tube. As I walked away the feeling of chakra faded too, as though the liquid had been its source. I shivered again, then quickened my pace until I was all but running out of the room.

This time I headed down the damaged portion of the corridor. I was already freaked out and seeing the gouges on the walls and splatters of blood only made me all the more tense—it looked as though I'd been chased down here by some kind of monster. The corridor made several turns and with some hesitation I decided to follow the destruction, hoping that it would lead me back to my team rather than to the monster.

When at last I made it to portion of the compound that I recognized I couldn't help but heave a huge sigh of relief. The Cavern should only be a little ways down from—

I stopped short again and felt my mouth instantly go dry. I had found the end of the trail of destruction.

There was a pool of blood leaking slowly from a room that had had its door blasted open. It was mostly dried, but there was enough of it that it would take a while longer yet. I stepped hesitantly forward and peered inside, then flinched when I saw a large blood splatter on the wall inside, as well as several smear marks from what looked like a violent struggle. It had been a small storeroom, filled with crates and a bunch black, L-shaped objects, but it was mostly destroyed now. There were small congealed bits of tissue and what looked like shards of bone scattered amongst the gore. My stomach lurched and I looked away before the urge to dry heave overcame me once more.

I hurried quickly past the room and continued on. I knew how to get to the Cavern from here, and I could only hope that I would find my teammates there, or at least some other sign of what had happened here. A part of me wanted to call out for them, but I was too terrified of drawing out whatever monster apparently stalked these halls.

It was just as I pushed open a pair of double doors that I saw them. My teammates were in a corner next to the massive garage door that led to the Cavern. Yamanaka and Aburame were crouched down to Hatake-sensei, who was lying unconscious on the ground, while Uchiha fiddled with the door's access pad. I felt a wave of relief crash over me and it wasn't until that moment that I realized just how fast my pulse was racing, or that my hands were clammy from nervous sweat.

My team jumped up at the sound of the doors opening. I opened my mouth to give some sort of weak, half-assed sarcastic greeting, but the words never made it past my lips as their appearance finally registered in my mind.

Uchiha's clothes were about as damaged as mine, though instead of being burned it looked as though he'd been attacked by a savage lawnmower. There were bandages covering almost all of his skin below the neck and his hair was sticking out at odd angles, clumped with dried blood. Aburame looked about the same, though less damaged and more exhausted. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and even from a distance I could tell that he was shaking violently. Yamanaka was similarly bandaged, and in particular they were wrapped around the right half of her head, completely covering that eye. Splotches of red were leaking through the cloth.

And all of them were staring at me with expressions of complete and utter horror. It wasn't just fear that I saw there in their faces. It was the look of a mouse as a cat sinks its claw into its chest, the look of a child watching their parents murdered, the look of a man seeing the death god descending upon him. It was a look that twisted my inside and wrenched at my heart. I felt that look like a kunai to the chest, and god, it _burned_.

My teammates exploded into a flurry of motion. I barely had time to breathe in sharply—painfully—before there were a dozen shuriken flying in my direction. On instinct I rolled behind the doors I'd just stepped through and let them slam shut, though not before several blades impaled my shoulder with sickening thuds.

"Seal the doors! Seal the doors!" Yamanaka was screaming hysterically. There was a burst of flame that had me scrambling backwards, followed several loud _thunk_s that made the doors shudder.

"W-what—!" I stammered, unable to comprehend what was happening. My teammates were yelling to each other, but I couldn't understand them over the deafening rushing sound that had filled my ears.

I lay on the ground for several long moments. Suddenly I didn't want to get up. Everything was just too overwhelming—the fight with the Mist-nin, waking up down here, the man in the tube, my teammates… My teammates looking at me like that, like I was…like I was a monster…

A rush frustrated anger washed over me with an abruptness that would have shocked me in any other situation. I lashed out with my foot and kicked the wall nearest to me. "What the hell!" I snarled angrily.

I had done nothing wrong! I had no fucking clue what was happening then my team just _turned on me_ like that?! Leaping to my feet, I strode over to the doors and slammed my fist against them.

"Would someone tell me what the fuck is going on?!" I bellowed, slamming my fist against the door again. It was still hot from Uchiha's fireball, but not hot enough to heat metal.

I could hear more panicked yelling from the behind the doors. Uchiha was apparently trying to get them out into the Cavern and Yamanaka kept urging him to hurry. There was a rough hitch in her voice, as though she was on the verge of tears. The anger in me faded as quickly as it had come, draining away and leaving me slumped against the metal. I bit down hard on my tongue then drew in a shaking breath.

"Uchiha," I said, calmly but clearly. He would be the most rational of them, I was sure. Aburame was logical, but cold and Yamanaka sounded too terrified to think straight. "Uchiha, talk to me!"

Their voices quietened down and there was a long, drawn-out moment of silence. I contemplated just shoving the doors open and demanding answers, but the memory of the horrified expressions on their faces surfaced in my mind and made me go still again.

"Uchiha, what happened?" I asked, ignoring the sudden tightness of my throat.

"…Naruto?" came Uchiha's quite voice.

"It could be a trap," Aburame said almost too softly for my ears to pick up. Yamanaka was breathing so quickly that she was nearly panting, and it sounded to me as though she were about to break down at any moment.

I pressed my palms flat against the smooth metal and closed my eyes. These were my teammates, I told myself. We could work out what had happened. We just needed to talk and then they'd realize they'd made some sort of mistake and that it was just _me_ out here, not something dangerous, not…not a monster.

I cleared my throat and then spoke up a bit more loudly. "We were in the forest carrying Hatake-sensei. We were heading toward the safe house—the compound—on the run from those Mist-nin. And then… I don't know," I said desperately. "I— I woke up here, and you guys…" My throat closed up and I pressed my hands hard against the door, resisting the urge to punch it again.

There was another few seconds of silence. "You don't remember anything else?" Uchiha said at last.

"Sasuke-kun, don't!" Yamanaka hissed suddenly. I could hear footsteps approaching the door. "Sasuke!"

Uchiha stopped just before the doors, but didn't open them. There was a long, pregnant silence that bubbled with words that wanted to be spoken, but that neither of us could actually force out. I couldn't even hear any sounds from my other teammates any more, as though they were holding their breaths, waiting.

Finally Uchiha swallowed and said, "You're alive."

"I…" Words left me completely. Really, what could I say to that? Just _what_ had happened?

Uchiha must have sensed my fear and confusion because he began to explain in halting cadence, "You brought us into this…safe house. You took care of Kakashi, then a few hours later you and I left to look around a bit."

My brow furrowed, not just at my lack of memory of these events, but because it seemed strange to me that we would have left. Hatake-sensei was injured and I was the only one of us with medical knowledge. Why would I just leave with Uchiha to explore?

"We found a storage room," Uchiha continued before I could ask any questions. Instantly my mind flashed to the gory room I'd found and I flinched again. Uchiha swallowed again, but I could hear him physically push his discomfort aside. His voice took on the clipped, flat tone he usually reserved for debriefings. "There were a number of unidentified object stored there. We did not realize it at the time, but they must have been weapons. I can only speculate, but they seem to convert chakra from its wielder into a physical weapon which shoots out like lighting, and with devastating effects. One of them accidentally went off and it blew through the back of your head. It killed you."

I was sure my face couldn't have been any paler if someone slit my throat right then and drained the blood out of me—again. I had suffered from a lot of bad injuries before, but never anything lack that. And even when I'd 'died' in the past, it had never involved my head. Up until now I hadn't even been sure that I _could_ survive a blow to the head or decapitation. All that blood back there, and the tissue matter… My stomach heaved itself into my throat as I realized that it must have been pieces of my brain.

Uchiha, however, wasn't done. "As soon as your body hit the ground you were enveloped in red chakra. It formed a second outline over you, completing the parts of your head that were missing. You attacked me instantly, howling like an enraged animal, and acted just as feral as one. You were a bit sluggish, but violent and powerfully strong. Ino and Shino heard our fight and came to my aid, but you were able to use your chakra claws as physical weapons and quickly overpowered us, forcing us to flee. Ultimately you cornered us in another room, but by then your movements had begun to slow further. We managed to initiate a simultaneous attack that we believed killed you again, or at least knocked you out of the fight. We left you writhing on the floor, collapsed the door behind us, and then fled. We returned to Kakashi-sensei and attempted to flee the compound, but were unable to get back the chakra seals. We attended to our wounds while trying to find another way out but were largely unsuccessful. We did not believe you had survived until you appeared again at the doors, but this time you appear cognitively capable."

The truth of what had happened slammed into me like a runaway cart, literally making me stagger. It felt so painfully obvious that I couldn't believe I hadn't put it together before. All those marks, the damage, my teammates' faces…

The Kyuubi had taken over.

I didn't know much about how the seal worked, but it was obvious that there was some sort of mental component. When my mind had been literally destroyed the Kyuubi had been able to surface and take control. Apparently he couldn't control my regenerative trait though, because as my head had healed the seal had begun to force it back down. For the first time in a long, long while I felt like kissing the Fourth Hokage—without his seal, I had little doubt that my teammates, not to mention myself, would be dead.

I lifted my shaking hands and scrubbed violently at my head, causing flakes of dried blood to shower my shoulders. I noticed now that the hair at the back of my head was completely matted with dried blood. God, I must look like a walking horror story. And my teammates… I'd tried to kill them. It was a miracle Uchiha was even talking to me after all that.

At least I had an explanation for my missing memory now. Even if my brain could apparently regenerate too—though how _that_ was possible, I had no fucking clue—there were obviously several nasty side effects, the least of which was extreme pain.

"Kyuubi," Aburame said abruptly, and I instantly recoiled. "The red chakra, your age, the villagers' attitudes toward you… It all adds up to the Kyuubi." Uchiha and Yamanaka both drew in sharp breaths, and then a silence fell over us, so thick and heavy it felt like a palpable force pressing down on me.

I swallowed thickly twice, paused, and then swallowed again. This mission had gone from bad to worse to catastrophic in a matter of hours and I had a sinking feeling that the only reason my teammates hadn't tried to kill me again yet was because I was their ticket out of here. The Hokage had instructed me to tell no one about the Kyuubi or my regeneration, but I doubted that he'd considered this situation at the time of that order.

I wiped my hands off on my burned pants and then folded them over my body, gripping my elbows tightly enough to make my bones creak. I jutted my chin out defiantly and stared at the doors that separated me from my teammates, refusing to back down. My entire life I had dealt with rejection, hatred, and fear, and I wasn't about to let it affect me know—even if it was my own team staring at me with _those_ eyes, condemning and rejecting me.

An ingrained urge to run rose up in my throat like bile. That was what I normally did in situations like these—run and hide until all of my problems forgot about me and continued about their business. And maybe that was my only option anyway. If I went back to Leaf after this…

I was a loose cannon, I realized with startling, terrifying clarity. If I was killed during a mission, just like this, then Kyuubi would be released on everyone around me, including my teammates. I was a danger to everyone around me and I couldn't even be put down like a rabid animal. If I went back to Leaf and my team told the Hokage about this, then I would be locked up or sealed away. Even I could see the logic in those actions. For all my bluster, I truly loved Leaf. It was my home, my world. My entire life all I'd ever wanted to do was prove myself to the villagers around me—to prove that I was worthy of being a citizen of Leaf. But how could the Hokage, or any sane man, possibly not get rid of a threat like me?

My head was starting to throb again and my gaze was blurring. My chest was constricting around my rapidly pounding heart. I felt like I'd been backed into a corner with no chance of escape and no right choice to make. The silence continued to press down around us and then the rushing noise rose up in my ears again, drowning out the pounding of my heart and suddenly I found it difficult to even draw breath. The walls were closing in on me and in the distance I swear I could already hear the angry yells of the villagers, calling for my imprisonment.

Perhaps it really was time to run.

o-O-o

A/N: I would have put up a gore warning for this chapter, but if you've come this far and are not already aware that this story contains gore then there's no hope for you.

I intended to put up the next interlude first, but it's not quite done yet and I have a feeling that I'm going to be sucked into Dragonborn and won't resurface for a little while, so decided to not make you guys wait too long =] Plus, the next interlude is a hell of a lot more important that it may seem at first glance so I'll be spending extra time making sure it comes out exactly as I want it to.

In the meantime, happy reading and thanks for all of your great responses!

-SR

_There are only two ways of telling the complete truth—anonymously and posthumously._  
-Thomas Sowell


	20. Interlude VI: Inuzuka Kiba

Posted: Feb 23, 2013  
Last Updated: Feb 23, 2013  
Chapter WC: 2,542  
Story WC: 89,348

* * *

Worth Dying For

Interlude VI  
_Inuzuka Kiba_

* * *

-8:00 PM, June 16th, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Shinobi Academy-

"Again."

Kiba spit the grass out of his mouth and pushed himself off the ground. His arms shook with the effort and the scrapes on his hands and knees stung as though someone had poured salt into them. Before he even made it all the way up a leg flashed out at him. Kiba managed to drop back to the ground just in time to avoid it and rolled to the side as the heel dropped, slamming into the ground right where his head had been. He used his hands to push up into a back spring this time, only to get caught full on in the chest by another kick that sent him back to the ground where he lay wheezing while dark spots danced in his eyes.

"Again," his mother snapped. She was towering over him, hands on her hips and her eyes and mouth both tight with disapproval.

With a growl Kiba lunged toward her legs, but this time the kick caught him right under his jaw and sent him flying back and tumbling head over heels. Akamaru yapped loudly from the sidelines and ran in a circle twice while whimpering worriedly.

"Mm fine," Kiba grunted, though the sharp spike of pain lancing through his bones said otherwise.

His mother crossed her arms under her chest and glowered down at him. After moment she let out a short breath of air and looked away. Her scent, tangy and familiar, took on a more smoky tone that Kiba usually associated with dissatisfaction. "You're done for the day," she said.

"I'm fine!" Kiba yelled as he scrambled to his feet. His right leg gave out and he thudded back down onto his knees with a hiss of pain. His mother didn't even look back—just kept walking until she disappeared into the clan compound.

Kiba hunched over and slammed his fist into the ground. Akamaru bounded forward and began to run around him while yapping encouragingly. When Kiba didn't move he stopped before him and head-butted his knee lightly while whining. Kiba gathered the small dog into his arms and buried his face into his fur. Akamaru continued to whine softly while Kiba held him tight, trying his damnedest to push back the tears of frustration that were pricking at the corners of his eyes.

Finally Kiba breathed in deeply and stood. He placed Akamaru on his head and the dog barked cheerfully before settling in. A smile came to Kiba's face unbidden and he marched back to the compound with his head held high.

Hana was crouched by the door taking her sandals off when Kiba stepped inside. She took one look at his torn, grass-stained outfit and laughed. "Had fun today, I take it?" she said with a snigger. She smelled musty today, like rain, leaves, and mud. "Don't tell me Mom beat your ass again. I thought you took a leave of training to actually get _better_, not worse!"

Red rushed into Kiba's cheeks. "I _am_ getting better!" he said hotly. "There ain't a damn Genin in Leaf that could take me on if I went full out!"

"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that," Hana laughed as she shrugged out of her Chuunin vest. "It'd be a bit more believable if you hadn't actually failed your secondary Genin exam, _loser_—"

"Screw you!" Kiba snarled. He could feel the hairs on his arms raising and red encroached on his vision as anger flooded his veins like white-hot, liquid metal. Above him Akamaru instinctively responded to his heightened emotions with a low growl.

Surprise flickered across Hana's face before settling into a frown. "Kiba—" she said, reaching out for him.

Kiba yanked his arm away from her and stormed out of the house. Screw her and screw Mom and screw every other Inuzuka who laughed behind his back. Screw Asuma-sensei and his teammates, screw the Academy teachers and his classmates. Screw the Hokage, just for the hell of it! He stomped through the village, and the cacophony of smells that usually made him avoid the marketplace only spurned him on today, jacking up his ire. Kiba gnashed his teeth and growled in the back of his throat, taking a perverse pleasure in the way civilians dashed out of his way.

He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, so he felt his rage bubble to a boil when he realized that his own traitorous feet had taken him to the Academy. He stopped dead in the street and glared up at the building. The sun had already fallen behind the hills by now and its last fading rays of light cast odd shadows across the building, making it seem ominous. There were a few people trickling about of the Academy, all of them over the age of twelve and some even wearing Chuunin flak vests. Kiba made sure to glare at each one of them, though none of them noticed him.

Then he saw _her_.

Sakura's long pink hair was unmistakable even in the dusk. She was talking to an older boy with silver hair and glasses, and she was smiling and looking excited all the while. Kiba's hands closed into fists so tight that his nails bit into his skin. He gritted his teeth to stop himself from yelling out as the rage flared hotter inside of him, ready to burn him from the inside out.

It was Sakura's fault, he thought bitterly. _She_ was the one who'd gotten knocked out by a single hit from Asuma and then had shook Kiba off with an annoyed look when he'd tried to help her. She'd annoyed him and put him off balance, and it was no wonder that Asuma had failed them all when they were too busy fighting amongst themselves to fight back against him. Akamaru whined again, but this time Kiba didn't respond.

Sakura was walking away now. Kiba followed her with dark eyes, but kept just enough self-controlled to stop himself from stomping after her and yelling at her.

"You okay there?"

Kiba jumped half a foot in the air and nearly yelped aloud. He hadn't even noticed the silver haired man approaching, but he was standing only a few feet away now with one think eyebrow raised.

"Whaddya want?" Kiba snapped.

The man's eyebrow quirked just a little bit higher. "You are an Inuzuka," he observed calmly. "Inuzuka Kiba, if I am not mistaken."

Kiba stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and hunched his shoulders defensively. "Yeah, and what's it to you?" he asked.

Humming thoughtfully, the man glanced back in the direction Sakura had gone. Kiba's nose twitched. This man smelled…odd. Somewhat sweet but with an acrid undertone, both of which had an usual sharpness to them that Kiba usually associated with skilled shinobi. His scent still had the earthy tinge that all Leaf-nin carried, but it was muskier than normal, and heavily disguised by the slightly sour smell of ammonia that clung to him like a second skin. Kiba's nostrils flared as he continued to study Sakura's friend. Or teacher, perhaps—he looked old enough to be. And he was definitely a medic-nin who spent large amounts of time in the hospital, no doubts about that.

The man turned back to Kiba, but made no mention of Kiba's staring. Instead he rested his chin in his palm, making a show of coming to some kind of decision. At last he smiled.

"I assume you have been training over the past few months, much like Sakura-chan," he said smoothly.

Kiba eyed him warily. "Yeah? So what?"

"You are an Inuzuka. Having a large clan grants you access to resources and training partners you wouldn't otherwise have, but it is also a handicap."

"Handicap?" Kiba barked a laugh at that, hiding the uneasiness that had started to wind around his shoulder like an oily snake.

"Yes, handicap. At home you are being trained by your family—people who care about you. They'll be holding back, even if they do not intend to. There is a reason why we have the Academy, and it isn't just to standardize what Leaf shinobi learn. People excel when pushed, and it's hard to feel pushed when you're in a safe place, surrounded by your clan."

"Please," Kiba scoffed, "my mom pushes me plenty hard enough." His skinned palms throbbed painfully in agreement.

The man tilted his head to the side and some of the fading light glinted off his glasses, making it impossible to see his expression. His scent was more than enough for Kiba to read him though—this man smelled of focus and satisfaction, as though he'd just found something he'd been looking for.

"Are you sure about that?" the man asked.

Kiba opened his mouth to give a scathing rebuttal, but nothing came out. Doubt slithered across his skin. He'd failed at becoming a Genin—that was a fact, cold and hard. He'd been training for months now to improve, but it just felt like he was slipping down a muddy hill, like that no matter how fast he ran it made no difference.

"I-I'm working on getting a Genin team," Kiba stammered. He flushed, then looked away stubbornly. "I'm training hard. I'm getting there."

"You know," the man said, almost casually, "I have an old friend who is a wandering-nin. He is a teacher; an exceptional one, and quite skilled. He has been looking for a new student to take on. I could recommend you, if you'd like."

Again Kiba hesitated. He knew of mercenary-nin, but he'd never heard anything good about them. They weren't missing-nin, but rather shinobi who had never had a clan or a village and so wandered the continent, owing no allegiance to anyone. They were also mostly mercenaries—men who would do anything for a bit of money.

"You expect me to, what, just leave Leaf?" Kiba sniffed. Akamaru barked in agreement from his perch atop his head.

The man merely shrugged. "Why not? Many shinobi go on training trips; it's practically expected of all higher level shinobi. Do you think you could learn anything about being a true shinobi by staying in one place?

"Well, no, but—"

"It's merely an offer. And I don't even know that he'd accept you," the man said dismissively.

"Then why even say anything in the first place?" Kiba huffed. He wasn't sure why he hadn't rejected the man's words immediately. It wasn't like he was _actually_ thinking about accepting or anything.

"I've been a shinobi, and a teacher, long enough to know when someone has innate potential."

Something warm and bright flared inside Kiba's chest. Of course he'd always known that he was skilled, but no one—_no one_—had even told him so before. Not his classmates who had called him Dogbreath, not his teachers who had called him Brat, not his sister who always mocked him, and certainly not his mother who was only ever disappointed that he couldn't measure up. He'd always struggled so damned hard to prove that he could be the incredible shinobi that he _knew_ he was, but to actually have that validated… It felt like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

The man had taken out a scrap of paper and was scribbling something down, completely oblivious to the way Kiba was staring at him with wide, shocked eyes. When he finished he folded it in half and then handed it to Kiba, who took it automatically, without even realizing that what he was doing.

"That's my friend's name and where to find him. He is in Rice Country at the moment so you would have to travel there to even talk to him about an apprenticeship," the man said.

Kiba licked his suddenly dry lips. Akamaru was whining again, but Kiba ignored him for the moment. "It's a huge risk," he said. "I would have to leave my home on the hopes that some jackass would be willing to teach me something—and he might not be anywhere near as good as you claim."

The man held up his hands in a placating gesture. "It's fine," he said. "If you're too worried about leaving home—"

"I am not worried!" Kiba spluttered.

"It's quite alright, really. You are still young and have probably never been outside the wall of Hidden Leaf Village. You still need time to grow."

"I already told you, I ain't scared!" Kiba's cheeks were burning red now, and he growled aloud. "If I went to see this guy, he'd take me on in a heartbeat. If even some deadbeat medic like you can see how good of a shinobi I am, then your friend would be _begging_ to help train me!"

"Yes, you're probably right," the man said with a slow nod. "Well, as I said, it is your choice. Stay in Leaf and wither away, or take a risk to get some real training and then come back home and blow everyone out of the water." The man smiled again as he patted Kiba's shoulder, then left and disappeared into the darkness.

Kiba huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Akamaru was whining louder, making his worry and disapproval known, so he pulled the small ninken down and held him up at eye level.

"I'm gonna do it, Akamaru," Kiba said firmly. "I sure as hell ain't gonna let him or anyone else tell me that I'm not a good shinobi." Akamaru barked, still not convinced. "I know, I know, we'd be leaving Leaf. But… But what if I don't take this chance and I wind up as some no-name Genin forever? What if I never get a Jounin sensei or if I wind up slaving away in the Hokage Tower pushing paper? Do _you_ want to stare at paperwork all day?"

Akamaru whined, then licked Kiba's cheek. The boy grinned fiercely and held the dog to his chest. "And when we come back we'll kick that sissy boy Uchiha's face in!" he said with a loud whoop. "He'll come crawling on his hands and knees beggin' me to tell him where I learned my awesome moves, but we won't tell him, will we?"

Akamaru barked in reply. The sun had set now, leaving only the bright, harsh artificial lights to illuminate the village. They cast a glare in Kiba's eyes where he normally would have no problem seeing through the dark, but for once he didn't complain. Instead he just held Akamaru tight against his chest as he ran through the streets. He'd get packed tonight so that he could leave at first light. He didn't even need to submit a request for leave to the Hokage Tower, since he was already on training leave and could legally exit the village whenever he wanted. Even better, he didn't have to tell his mother or his clan since he was a legal adult now. Sure, she'd be _pissed_, but by the time he came back in a few weeks or months, he'd be strong enough that she would welcome him back with open arms.

When he came back, he'd be the most badass shinobi Leaf had ever seen.

o-O-o

A/N: Of course, no one is Leaf is going to just let Kiba waltz out that easily—but that's a tale for future time. Right now I just have this to say: Kiba is a fascinating character to me. He's extremely passionate, but that can both a good and a bad thing because his emotions literally drown out the warnings in his head.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: the appearance of the chakra guns in this story are loosely based off the guns in _Psycho-Pass_. Google them to get a better idea of what they look like. I emphasize loosely though—they're not quite the same, and the way they work is completely different.

I'm looked for a new beta reader at the moment. A brief forewarning—I intend give anyone who offers a paragraph to edit so that I can get an idea of your abilities. I'm also looking for someone who can work relatively quickly and get a chapter done within a few days. If anyone is interested please PM me!

-SR

_Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.  
_-Og Mandino


	21. Chapter 14: Verity

Posted: March 15, 2013  
Last Updated: March 16, 2013  
Chapter WC: 7,485  
Story WC: 96,833

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 14  
_Verity_

* * *

-7:00 AM, June 16, 312 TE-

-Underground Compound-

I sat with my back pressed up against the double doors, breathing in and out slowly. For a long time there had been nothing but silence from the short corridor my teammates were trapped in. I knew they were still there because there was no way for them to get out without me—not to mention that opening that door was louder than a tailed beast's growling stomach—which meant that they must have been conferring via hand signs. They were doubtlessly deciding what to do with me.

My head was still throbbing, but it had mostly subsided and with it the last of the haze lifted from my mind. It had been hard to even tell that it was there until it left. Suddenly, I could think clearly and actually rationalize without falling into abrupt fits of rage or fear. I would probably need to see a medic-nin after all this, I thought grudgingly. As much as I hated hospitals, I hated the thought of not being in control of my own mind even more.

That was if I went back to Leaf, of course, but…

Now that I _could_ think clearly, the idea of running away from Leaf was decidedly less appealing. I was a _Jinchuuriki_, and an immortal one to boot. Every hunter-nin in the country—and possibly from every one of our allies too—would be sent after me. I had no illusions about how long I could hide under those circumstances. I could probably go to Akihito for help, but… Even though I knew little about court politics, I did know that the relationship between the daimyo and the Hokage was tenuous at best. They coexisted, but they were also two powerful entities that controlled the same territory. If the Hokage demanded that I be handed over, there was little chance the daimyo would refuse.

A long, heavy sigh swept up and out of my chest. My head hung until it was nearly parallel to the ground. How the hell did I always manage to get into the most fucked up, asinine situations?

And what the fuck was I doing sitting on the floor anyway? I blinked as the thought hit me, and for a moment could do little more than continue to stare at the cement below me. Then, without any warning or forethought, I scrambled to my feet. What _was_ I doing? Sitting around, moping, acting all emotional—none of these things described me in the slightest. When the hell did I start taking shit lying down?

I didn't let myself think any further. I bared my teeth in a ferocious, determined grin and then slammed the doors open. My teammates, who had been sitting in a circle near the garage door, jumped up instantly.

"Alright, enough is enough," I said gruffly. I folded my arms across my chest and glared at all three of them. "I'm sick of this shit already and it hasn't even gotten started, so let's just get this straightened out before it turns in to a cry fest. Good? Good. First things first—the day I was born, the Nine Tailed Fox was sealed into me. I am a human prison for the beast, keeping it at bay and yadda yadda. Two: because the Fourth Hokage used the Death God to seal it into me there were unforeseen effects. Specifically that I have ridiculous regeneration that lets me bounce back from anything that would otherwise kill me. I didn't realize that included having my fucking head blown off until today though. And that apparently also releases the Kyuubi and whatnot.

"Which, by the way, I had no control over. So I'm not gonna apologize for trying to kill you, and you won't apologize for trying to kill me because it wasn't _me_. Now we're going to get Hatake-sensei up, get the hell out of this place, and go back home. Got it?"

I stared at my teammates, daring them to refute my words. Yamanaka's mouth was hanging open as she stared at me, dumbfounded. Aburame was considering me silently behind his dark glasses. And Uchiha? Well, he was smirking.

"Oi! Did I say something funny?" I snapped. "Cause if you think I'm not telling the truth—"

"It is good to see that it's actually you this time," Uchiha interjected smoothly.

I blinked at that. "Huh?"

"You were acting differently before."

"Yeah, well, I was in shock or something," I said while waving a hand around. I was actually pretty sure that I hadn't been, since I'd learned the symptoms of shock and none of them fit what I'd been experiencing at all—but I wasn't about to explain that to _him_. I didn't even want to think of it myself, because that would mean questioning exactly why I'd been acting so out of character.

Uchiha hummed noncommittally. "So, the Kyuubi…"

I jutted my chin out stubbornly. "Yeah, the Kyuubi. Most of the villagers know, but there's technically some kind of law preventing anyone from saying anything. Hokage's orders. They don't know about how I can heal though, so don't say a word about it until we get to the Hokage or I'll skin you alive—and he probably will too. I hear Uchiha pelts fetch a good price on the market these days," I said snarkily.

Instead of throwing me a glare like he normally would, Uchiha snorted. "We have been living under the same roof for two months now and you haven't breathed a word about any of this. Shouldn't we have known, as your team?" he asked in a flippant tone.

"You'll have to bother the Third Hokage about that one—they're his rules, not mine."

"Didn't we have a right to know?" Yamanaka asked breathlessly. Her lips were thin and tight, like she was physically holding back what she wanted to say, and she was staring at me through narrowed eyes.

I stared right on back at her. "Oh, _sorry_ for not spilling my deepest darkest secrets to people I only started to get to know a few months ago. Should we sit around a campfire at night swapping stories? We're a team—but that doesn't mean you have the _right_ to know anything about me. As for what happened today… Well, I had no idea that it could even happen. The Fourth Hokage died without fully understanding the seal or even explaining it to anyone, so I've been kind of figuring things out as I go. I _still_ don't really know much about how my healing works."

Yamanaka nearly blurted something out, but swallowed it at the last second. Instead she slowly said, "Can I see it? The seal, I mean."

I was _not_ expecting that. "I—what?" I knew that Yamanaka had started studying seals, so I guessed that a Jinchuuriki's seal would probably be something like a holy grail to her, but her abrupt change in attitude left me floundering.

"Yes, I am curious about it as well," Aburame finally spoke up. I still couldn't tell what he was thinking, but at the moment that was the last thing on my mind.

"Hold on, hold on—did I miss something?" I demanded. "What happened to the whole 'Holy shit you're a demon!' part?"

Uchiha frowned. "I thought you said you were the prison, not the demon?"

"Well—yeah. But people don't usually just accept that! Or even believe it for that matter," I said incredulously. "It's generally a _little_ bit difficult to get past the whole demon part."

"You do not normally care about the opinions of others," Aburame pointed out.

"Yeah, but…" I shook my head wordlessly. How the hell was it that this day just kept on getting weirder and weirder? Surely there had to be a limit eventually! At this point I didn't think even the Third Hokage bursting through the doors, stark naked and tap-dancing, would surprise me.

"It's over," Uchiha said with surprising firmness. I expected that he'd be the one to push back the most and demand more answers, but he actually seemed the most eager to dismiss the situation, which sent warning bells off in my head. He said that this whole thing had started when he and I had left to 'explore'. Was there something he was leaving out?

I reluctantly put my suspicions aside for now. Instead I focused my attention on Hatake-sensei, who was still lying unconscious by the large door. Kneeling beside him—and noticing how my teammates kept their distance despite their so-called words of acceptance—I checked his pulse. It was beating like rabbit on speed and he was pale and clammy.

"Alright, whatever," I said to my teammates. "Are you all ready to go now? Hatake-sensei has gotten a hell of a lot worse since I last remember seeing him. Could be an infection or maybe even poison…"

Yamanaka snorted. "I think we're even worse off than last night," she muttered, "but it's not like we have a choice anymore."

"We have wasted too much time already," Uchiha agreed.

We didn't talk any further. I opened the large garage doors and we fell back into the formation we'd been in last night, with Uchiha and me carrying Hatake-sensei between us. Yamanaka was mumbling furiously as we approached the huge transport seal in the middle of the Cavern, clearly fascinated. She spent a few seconds circling and looking over as much of it as she could before Uchiha finally rolled his eyes and yanked her into the array.

It took a small portion of my chakra to activate the seal again. The walls swirled around us, fading away into green trees and rays of sunlight, and then we were off, using the sun as a guide to tell us which direction Hidden Leaf Village was in. My heart was stuck in my throat and my eyes kept involuntarily darting around. I could leave now, if I wanted to. We were only about a day's travel away from Leaf, maybe two if we kept up our current pace. My teammates could easily take Hatake-sensei from here. I was in the best shape out of anyone right now and I had the most stamina regardless of that. I could run and they wouldn't be able to catch me. If I had a good head start I might be able to hide well enough to escape the hunter-nin…

But I didn't _want_ to run. That was the biggest issue. I would rather stare down the Hokage and every ANBU in Leaf before willingly leaving my home. In my entire life I had never taken so much as a step back when someone tried to shove me down, and I had no intention of starting now.

"Fuck it," I muttered under my breath. If they wanted to try and imprison me then they could, but I wasn't going down without a fight. All I had to do was talk to the Hokage and prove to him that I was worth too much to be considered a liability. Jinchuuriki were supposed to be ultimate weapons, right? Perhaps if I could convince him that I could be a weapon…

I would deal with it once we got home, I thought resolutely. Until then it was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, and hoping we didn't drop Hatake-sensei and split his head open. If we did, I was pretty sure he'd find a way to come back as a ghost and gleefully torment us for the rest of our lives.

I wanted to say something to dispel the aggravating silence that was smothering our small group, but nothing came to mind. No one else bothered break up the heavy atmosphere either, so we wound up traveling that way for hours. It got so tense that when Aburame suddenly spoke up that afternoon, the rest of us jumped in our skins.

"There is a squad of Leaf-nin two miles north of us," Aburame said. "They are heading directly for our position and will arrive in approximately four minutes."

We quickly stopped. "They must be the reinforcements Hatake-sensei sent for," Yamanaka said, relief evident in her voice.

"And you're sure they're Leaf-nin?" I asked urgently.

Aburame nodded. I had no idea how his bugs could tell someone's village of origin, but I trusted him enough not to question it further. True to his word, a few minutes later five shinobi dropped from the trees. They were three Chuunin and two Jounin from the look of it, and all of them were sporting Leaf headbands.

One of the Jounin took one look at our state and our unconscious teacher and immediately began firing off rapid orders into a headset communicator. I couldn't help but grin; we must be quite a sight. All of us looked as though we'd been chewed up by a giant summon and then spat back out. I was still shirtless and nearly pantsless, having lost the storage scroll that contained my other clothes sometime during the Kyuubi's fighting, and my teammates hadn't had the chance to change either. I don't think it even crossed our minds to straighten up our appearance—we were all far too keen to get back home and away from the crazy little pocket of hell we'd stumbled into.

Ultimately one of the Chuunin stayed behind to wait for a medic-nin team while the rest of the shinobi continued on to whatever mission they'd been sent on, presumably something to do with the Mist-nin we'd ran into. The Chuunin must have been a medic-nin herself, because she immediately started looking over Hatake-sensei and changing his bandages.

"You did a pretty good job of stabilizing him," she said. "One of you has field medicine training, I take it?"

"I do," I affirmed. Well, I was in-training, but there was no reason to explain that to some woman I'd probably never see again.

She looked up at me in surprise, then frowned and looked away. "The bandages are too loose and they should have been changed hours ago. His fever also should have been dealt with or at least—"

"I thought you just said he did a good job," Yamanaka snapped. She placed her hands on her hips and glared down at the Chuunin.

"Yes, however—"

"Sensei was stabilized to the best of our ability," Aburame said softly as he stepped up next to Yamanaka.

To my utter shock, Uchiha moved to Yamanaka's other side so that the three of them were standing between me and the Chuunin. "Isn't your job just to guard us while we wait for the _actual_ medics?" he sneered.

I don't think my jaw could have dropped any lower. Again I felt like I'd completely missed something—why the hell were my teammates not acting like they were _supposed_ to after finding out that one among them was a demon? And especially after I tried to kill them! Maybe I really did die, I thought dizzily, and this was all some sort of fucked up dream.

The Chuunin had a pinched looked on her face. She looked back down at Hatake-sensei and returned to changing his bandages without a word.

I took a few steps back and ran a hand through my hair raggedly. When my teammates joined me I narrowed my eyes at Yamanaka and whispered, "What the hell was _that_?!"

Yamanaka glared right back at me, any traces of the terrified girl she'd been this morning completely gone. "You're a jackass," she whispered harshly, poking me hard in the chest, "and you're a jackass who lied to us and tried to kill us, even if you didn't have control over it. But that's a _team_ matter. I'm not about to stand by as some bimbo insults a member of my team."

"You do not know her, therefore there is no reason for her to judge you, regardless of what she may have heard," Uchiha said matter-of-factly.

I stared incredulously at the three of them. "You're all a bunch of freaks," I huffed at last. Faster than I could dodge, Yamanaka's hand flashed out and hit the side of my head. "Ow! Sheesh, I was just joking!"

Uchiha snorted and turned away. He was rubbing his temple as he did so, as though to shield his expression, but all of us could see the faint smile on his face.

o-O-o

-7:00 PM, June 16, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Tower District-

The Hokage Tower loomed menacingly over us, its large, open windows staring down accusingly like the eyes of an angry giant. I swallowed thickly and quickly turned my gaze forward as we entered the building. My teammates filed in behind me and we were swiftly led upstairs by one of the Jounin who had met us at the village gates.

Hatake-sensei was recovering in the hospital now, having been taken there as soon as the team of medics arrived. My team and I had been looked over as well, getting most of our major injuries taken care of in the forest. We'd then been carried the rest of the way to Leaf and, even though I'd vehemently protested it, I had to admit that shinobi who'd carried us moved a hell of a lot faster than we could. Any other injuries we had were going to have to wait until after our debriefing with the Hokage.

The Third Hokage was in his primary office with two old men and some old lady when we arrived. The three advisors all stared directly at me with cold, rigid faces like they were a damn inquisition. They stood off to the side of the Hokage's desk, leaving my team to line up before them, backs rigid and hands clasped behind us. My heart was pounding rapidly and my mouth had gone dry again. When the door shut behind us it clicked with the finality of a cell door or a pair of manacles. Even the chakra suppressors on my wrists seemed to be holding me down now, rather than helping me.

Any chance I'd had to run was long gone.

"Team Kakashi," the Third Hokage greeted us solemnly.

I flinched. He already knew what had happened, I thought desperately, before ruthlessly squashing my rising panic. Of course he didn't know. There was no way for him to possibly know. Unless one of my teammates had sent word ahead somehow…

The Hokage had said something else but I hadn't heard it, and now everyone was staring expectantly at me. I felt my usual defenses come surging up, making every muscle in my body pull taut and my teeth grind together. In short, halting sentences I began to explain what had happened on our mission, from seeing a shinobi enter the town we'd been watching up through our fight with the Mist-nin. When I got to the part where we started running back to the Leaf I hesitated.

My teammates were staring at me and I was sure everyone could hear the thudding of my heart—even the guards outside could probably hear _that_. But there was no turning back now. I would convince the Hokage—and apparently his fucking advisors too; wouldn't _that_ be fun—that I was an asset to Leaf. There was no other way this could go.

"We camped about 30 miles south of Leaf," Uchiha said. "Naruto bandaged Kakashi-sensei while we set up camp. He continued to watch over him while Shino, Ino, and I set up watch rotations. We saw no further sign of the Mist missing-nin nor the Mist hunter-nin. At approximately 0600 this morning we broke camp, erased the signs of our presence, and continued back to Leaf. At approximately 1300 we were found by the Leaf team who had been sent after us. One Chuunin, name unknown, stayed behind with us to ensure that Kakashi-sensei was stabilized. Twenty minutes later the medic team found us and escorted us back to Leaf."

I very, very carefully did not stare open-mouthed at Uchiha. I also very carefully didn't stare at my other teammates when they kept their mouths shut and didn't contradict Uchiha's statements, even though I was pretty sure that this had been some kind of spur of the moment decision on Uchiha's part. Technically, this was _treason_. One of the first rules we learned in the Academy was that we had to tell _everything_ to the shinobi debriefing us, regardless of how trivial we thought it was. This wasn't trivial. If I was anyone else I would probably be arrested and executed for attempted murder.

Self-preservation somehow managed to keep my expression blank and stop me from twitching. It also stopped me from saying anything else when the Hokage asked us a few more questions about the mission, knowing that my voice would crack if I tried to speak.

There was no suspicion on the faces of the elders or the Hokage. Granted, they displayed absolutely no emotion at all. Except… The third elder—a tall, imposing man with thick jowls and a cross-shaped scar on his chin—had been staring directly at me the entire time. I could tell he was wearing the same stony, unreadable expression as the others, despite part of his head and the right half of his face being wrapped up in bandages, much like Yamanaka. There was a slight gap over where his eye would be, but I could see nothing through it but a deep, dark blackness that seemed to seep out from behind the cloth and slowly engulf the room. It spread and spread until there was nothing left but the man, still staring at me, only now his gaze had a physical weight to it that settled behind my eyes up against my brain.

With a jerk, I realized that the Hokage's office really had faded away. I spun around, but there was only that impenetrable, impossible darkness surrounding us. As I whipped back to the elder he stepped forward and the walking stick he'd been leaning on vanished as well.

"Your teammates are quite convincing," he said, "But I can feel the stench of the Kyuubi surrounding you."

"Where are we?" I demanded, even though it felt as though the breath had been stolen from my lungs. "What the fuck did you do?"

The man chuckled. "To answer the questions you did not think to ask, I am Shimura Danzo, retired ANBU commander. You are currently inside a special genjutsu of mine that will allow us to speak unhindered."

I swallowed thickly; genjutsu had always been a weakness of mine, something I was abysmal at detecting or breaking. Whipping out a kunai, I went to stab myself through the hand to physically break the technique, but the blade merely went straight through my flesh, with no blood or pain. I dropped the kunai in shock and it disappeared before it could touch the nonexistent floor.

"Your physical body is not here, only your mind," Shimura said.

"Yeah, and whaddaya want?"

"The truth, that is all," he said. He sounded completely relaxed and amicable, but his statement about being a former ANBU commander kept ringing through my head. "The Kyuubi was released during your mission. Why?"

"It— it wasn't—"

"I do not take kindly to liars." _Now_ Shimura's voice was cold and flat, like the edge of a blade slashing between us, and I automatically flinched.

"I'm not lying!" I snapped. "What, do you think I go around letting demons out for shits and giggles? That's _not_ what happened! I just…"

Shimura folded his arms behind his back. "Then it is connected to your regeneration."

I choked. Loudly. "That's—! H-how…?" I shook my head. "Never mind; fucking ANBU, I should have expected. You lot are like freaking cockroaches, always under every floorboard." I remembered too late just who I was cursing at, but couldn't quite manage to care through my ire. Besides, the Hokage and Hatake-sensei were the only people who had earned my respect. Anyone else could go suck a doorknob, so long as they didn't bother me.

"You are not nearly as careful as you believe," he noted. "We have been watching you for quite some time. Most of your life. We…manage our assets well."

"I thought you said you were retired," I grumbled.

"No shinobi is ever truly retired. You would do well to remember that."

I stared at him for a long minute, struggling valiantly against the defeated feeling that was creeping up from my chest. "Yes, it's to do with my regeneration," I said defiantly. "Apparently even that is not without its downsides. But everything is completely under control, as you can see."

"The seal was disrupted and the Kyuubi began to take control before you could force it back," Shimura guessed.

My eyes narrowed; that was far too close to the truth for comfort. But if my teammates weren't going to speak up about it, then my lips were going to be as tightly sealed as a shrine maiden's legs. "Yeah, pretty much. But, like I said, it's under control. We got out just fine."

"But it could have been worse. What would you have done if you had turned on your teammates?"

"That—" I swallowed convulsively. "That wouldn't happen."

"But it could. The Kyuubi is a mindless beast of rage and bloodlust. Sarutobi might be willing to let you play the part of a normal shinobi, but we both know that you are not, and will never be. You have an untapped power at your fingertips, and if you do not learn to control it then it will control you."

"Are you saying that you think I _can_ control the Kyuubi?" I asked, confused.

"It is merely chakra, and all chakra can be directed." The tone of Shimura's voice dropped suddenly from relaxed conversation to frigid ice as he said, "Let me put it this way: I have dedicated my life and soul to protecting Leaf. If you are a liability to this village, then you will be taken out and put someplace where you are not a danger to its people. Save me the trouble and stop yourself from becoming a danger in the first place."

"I would never turn on Leaf!" I said vehemently. "I've dedicated _my_ life to protecting it too! I am a shinobi, not—not a _demon _—"

"But the Kyuubi is."

"That's…" The fuck could I say to that? The truth in his words rung loud and clear over any protests my mind could come up with. "I _can_ control the Kyuubi. I _will_."

"If it were that simple we would not be having this conversation," Shimura chuckled.

"Then what the fuck do you want from me?!"

"You are denser than I expected. We shall have to remedy that," he mused. I opened my mouth to give another scathing comment, but he held up his hand and the air left my lungs again—only this time he was the cause and I glared at him while spluttering and coughing.

"I am giving you an offer," he said. "I will help you learn to control the Kyuubi. When you are up to my standards I will trust you to protect your burden on your own. But I warn you now—I am extremely exacting in my standards. You would much prefer the softness of your current sensei to my methods."

I hesitated for a long moment, my mind a roiling mess. The impulsive, panicky half of me wanted to immediately jump forward and accept. I was suddenly, out of the blue, being offered training from an _ANBU commander_, retired or otherwise, and also a quick way out the dilemma I'd been sure I would have to fight my way, tooth and nail, to be free of. The other half of me was circling around my mind with bared teeth, searching carefully for the trap that I knew existed behind his 'generous' offer.

"And what would you get out it?" I asked warily.

Shimura raised his visible eyebrow. "I thought I already told you. I will not allow a fox to roam freely amongst my flock. In my eyes, you have two options: leashing or death. Or worse than death, in your case."

"You would kill a Leaf-nin, just like that?" I was pretty damn sure the Hokage wouldn't allow that, no matter what this old bastard said.

As though he could read my mind, Shimura replied, "Do you think Sarutobi would not agree with me, if he thought you would turn on his village? You may be the bearer of a powerful weapon, but it is a double-edged sword, a rabid dog—as likely to turn on its master as it is to kill its enemies. Even Leaf is not so kind as to let that dog walk free."

"Are you calling me a dog, you son of bitch?" I asked, pretending to be affronted while in actuality I was running through all the options I had.

Ultimately, it was about as simple as Shimura said. I could reject his offer and possibly convince the Hokage that I was still safe, but I might still be dragged away in the dead of night by those who thought of me only as a threat. Or I could agree to his training and actually find a way to keep the Kyuubi under control—assuming that it was even possible—but I would be under the thumb of an obviously ruthless man who could easily take advantage of me to further his own agenda.

A long walking stick appeared out of nowhere and knocked me over the head with enough force to make me see stars. "Son of a bitch," I repeated with a choking gasp, and the stick hit me again. I nearly fell to my knees this time, but regained my balance at the last moment. When my skull stopped reverberating I glared at Shimura while rubbing my now aching head.

"You have your options. I will give you two days to think on your answer," Shimura said.

I nodded slowly. That was a little better than I was expecting, to be honest. Before I could say anything else I suddenly found myself standing back in the Hokage's office, still staring at Shimura's face. The Hokage continued whatever he'd been saying and no one else so much as blinked, as though no one had seen any hint of our conversation. A shiver ran down my spine, but I showed no outward signs of my surprise and agitation.

The debriefing finished at a rapid pace after that. We were instructed to write up and hand in our full, detailed reports by the next day and then were set free. As we the left the room and the elders returned to whatever discussion they'd been previously having, I could feel Shimura's gaze on my back, following me out.

o-O-o

-9:00 PM, June 16, 312 TE-

-Team Kakashi's Apartment-

There was a persistent streak of grime on the edge of the kitchen counter. Sasuke scrubbed at it with a hand cloth in tight, clockwise circular motions. When at last it disappeared he continued along the counter. One, two, three, four, five strokes. Then counter-clockwise—one, two, three, four, five strokes. Next the kitchen table. Sasuke pulled out the chair, then pushed it back in. He repeated the motion twice more before setting the chair to the side, spraying some cleaner onto the tabletop, and scrubbing away. It wasn't clean enough yet. He could see small ramen stains, nearly branded onto its surface.

His throat was burning. Sasuke swallowed several times, but it was still dry as sandpaper. One, two, three, four, five. He stared at the grains of wood as he scrubbed. One, two, three, four, five. Don't think, just clean. Those were ramen stains, not bloodstains. One, two, three, four, five.

A sound from the living room made Sasuke jump. He stilled and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He tapped on the table—once, twice, thrice. He did the same with his other hand. He picked the cloth back up and scrubbed at the table, making it scrape several inches across the floor. Swallowing again he pulled the table back into place before continuing.

The Fangirl and the Mute were sitting in the living room, sorting through and cleaning their equipment. Naruto had retreated into his bedroom the moment they had gotten back to the apartment and hadn't resurfaced in the hour since then. Sasuke tapped on the table again. It didn't help. He repeated the motion two more times with each hand. Still not clean enough. It was still speckled with blood—red and dripping, slowly spilling over the edges and dribbling onto the floor.

Sasuke shook his head vehemently and the gory image disappeared. His hands still looked red though. Covered in Naruto's blood. Covered in his teammate's blood. He could still picture with perfect clarity the expression on Naruto's face—surprised and confused, with a hint of betrayal. _"Why?"_ his face seemed to say._ "Why are you exactly like Itachi?"_

Sasuke bit down hard on the inside of his cheek and immediately tasted blood as it flooded his mouth. He hesitated for a moment, fighting against his involuntary instincts, before finally giving in and biting his other cheek as well—not hard enough to bleed, but enough to get the same feeling and equal them out. But the flavor in his mouth just brought back the memory of that heavy, metallic, almost sweet smell that had saturated the air of the underground compound. In turn images of his parents lying in pools of blood, blank faces staring up, flashed before his eyes. The grotesque scene was overlaid with one of Naruto, lying on the floor in the same position for all of two seconds before that red chakra exploded out of his body.

He tried to think of anything else. It didn't work. And the table still was not clean enough. It would never be clean enough. He really was just like Itachi—he had killed a teammate. Someone who trusted him, at least in some sense. He was a traitor, in all the ways that mattered. He had killed Naruto and released the Kyuubi, nearly getting his other teammates killed as well.

But the worst part was that no one had said anything. No one had yelled or thrown around accusations. Naruto hadn't demanded justice, Ino and Shino hadn't given him disgusted looks. No one had said _anything_. Naruto even apologized! Like it was his fault! Was he trying to torment Sasuke, to drive him insane with guilt? It was the only explanation Sasuke could think of. They must have all gotten together without him noticing and plotted to punish him like this.

Only they hadn't. He knew, logically, that they could not have. They had been together for every moment of the last dozen or so hours. There was no time for them to conspire. There was only them and the oppressing silence.

And Naruto still had not come out of his room—had not said a word to the others yet either. It looked like he might, when they first got back to Leaf. He had looked at them, confusion in his gaze, and seemed a second away from speaking. But then they'd been surrounded by shinobi and quickly whisked off to the Hokage Tower, and on the way back from the meeting Naruto had been completely wrapped up in his own thoughts. He almost tripped twice, which as unheard of for any shinobi let alone Naruto, who was known amongst their team as having remarkable situational awareness.

Sasuke thought he knew the reason for Naruto's preoccupation. He had seen the way the crippled elder stared at him through the entire meeting. It had been a piercing look, and a predatory one. It was the same look Itachi had given him _that_ night, as he stood over the bodies of their parents and assessed exactly how he could use Sasuke. It was a look that raised Sasuke's hackles and made him grind his teeth. And it clearly meant something to Naruto too, based on how he had responded. It had been enough to put the day's events out of the blond's mind—something that was completely impossible for Sasuke.

He definitely did not trust that elder. No one with so many similarities to Itachi could be good. He did not trust the other advisors, either, or even the Hokage when it came down to it. They just stared on at them with hard, uncaring faces. They created men like Itachi, intentionally or otherwise. A small, carefully hidden corner of Sasuke's mind blamed them for the death of his clan. He blamed them even more so for the treatment of the villagers, who either revered or were suspicious of him. That corner grew now as he thought of Naruto and the Kyuubi, and it blamed the elders all the more.

"You are agitated."

Shino was standing at the doorway. Sasuke looked up, but said nothing.

"He has every reason to be," Ino said defensively from over Shino's shoulder. "We all are after—after Naruto…"

"It is not his fault," Sasuke said firmly. He wanted to add, _it's mine_, but the words, along with his breath, were lodged in his throat.

Ino looked torn, but did not disagree. Before the conversation could go any further—or before Sasuke could throw them out of the kitchen, which was more likely—a knock sounded at the front door. Their heads all swiveled in the direction of the sound and for the length of a heartbeat there was silence. Then Ino's shoulder slumped with relief and she hurried to the door.

Shino and Sasuke stepped into the living room just in time to see a tall man with long, blond hair close the door behind him.

"Dad!" Ino greeted as she threw her arms around him.

He looked her up and down without saying a word. When Ino began to fidget nervously, his gaze moved up to Sasuke—who immediately felt himself go tense. The man had the same pupil-less green eyes as his daughter, but on him they looked completely different. Ino's eyes were always bright and warm, like shallow pools of water. On her father they seemed to be deep pits that swallowed everything around him, slowly peeling back the layers until Sasuke felt naked before him.

A shiver ran down his spine and it took all of Sasuke's self-control not to let it show. He could almost feel killing intent in that gaze. And even if it wasn't killing intent, there was certainly no friendliness in his eyes.

When the man finally returned his attention to Ino, Sasuke slumped like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He swiftly retreated back into the safety of the kitchen, having no desire to feel like a kikaichū under a microscope again. He resumed his fervent cleaning and successfully managed to block out the sounds of conversation, at least until the yelling started.

"I'm fine!" Ino was insisting.

"Seeing a field medic-nin is not the same as visiting the hospital," her father said firmly.

"The medic-nin already took care of it. He said I just have to change the bandage once every eight hours—"

"Do you want to take the chance of losing vision in your left eye?"

"_Dad_, it's not that big of a deal!" Ino protested. "Really, it was a shallow cut; it didn't damage my eye at all."

"We're going. Now," her father said, and that seemed to be the end of the conversation because he swiftly left. With a heavy sigh, Ino followed.

There was only a moment of silence before Shino, still standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, turned to Sasuke. "I believe it would be best for me to return to my clan compound for the evening," he said. "I would like to verify that Naruto's chakra had no ill effects on my colony."

Sasuke tensed. "Are you—?"

"I will say nothing about the events that transpired," Shino said. "I agree that it would do more harm than good." He stared silently at Sasuke for a minute longer, then turned and left.

A heavy silence settled over the apartment. Sasuke closed his eyes and reveled in it. No more words, no more thoughts, no more need to react to other people. It was just him, alone at last.

He carefully rinsed out the hand cloth he had been using and hung it up to dry. He smoothed it out twice before forcing his hands to still and drop back to his sides. He was getting better at forcing down the compulsions, but they still tended to get the better of him when he was emotional. It was true that he could just repress the emotions…but that would make him like Itachi. And that was unacceptable. Any weakness was better than being like Itachi, and any weakness could still be overcome with enough effort.

Sasuke spent a few minutes correcting the placement of the chairs at the table before deciding it felt right. He walked down the hall toward his bedroom—and then stopped, right outside Naruto's room. There were no sounds coming from inside, even though Sasuke knew that his teammate was in there with his tiger. He stared at the wood of the door. It felt like an icy hand had forced itself down his throat and was now squeezing his heart. The guilt welled up again, and the ice began to spread to the rest of his body. Sasuke tore his gaze away and strode the remainder of the way to his own door.

Once the door was locked securely behind him, Sasuke stood in the middle of his bedroom. It was sparsely decorated and perfectly clean, as could only be expected from an Uchiha. He took great pride in making sure that there was not so much as a kunai out of place at all times. Even the small desk he had was kept completely clear.

Sasuke pulled a storage scroll out of his leg pouch and set it on the desk. For several minutes he did nothing more than stare at it. It looked so innocent now. Just paper and ink. The hand in his chest squeezed harder.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Sasuke reached out, unsealed the scroll, and activated it with a deliberate pulse of chakra. The ink flared to life and wormed across the paper like it had a life of its own. Then, in a flash, the black chakra weapon from the compound appeared. Sasuke licked his lips and continued to stare at it, hand hovering a few inches away, half expecting it to lash out at him. It looked so innocent too. He would think it was a worthless hunk of metal had he not seen—felt, heard, _smelled_—the damage it could do firsthand.

It still smelled like blood, but that might have been Sasuke's imagination. Or it might have been the blood staining his skin.

Sasuke picked up the chakra weapon, marveling once more at how perfectly it fit in his hand. It made kunai feel clumsy and brittle. Even the swords he was learning to use in class felt unwieldy in comparison. The stench of blood was stronger now. Sasuke's nostrils flared and the expression on Naruto's face as he died returned, clearer than ever. It was burned into Sasuke's memory, never to fade, no matter how much time passed. It was a part of him now, as much as his own limbs were.

As he stared down at the chakra weapon, red bled into Sasuke's eyes. He didn't need a mirror to know how they'd changed, the black tomoe stretching out to join his pupils like a pinwheel. His hated eyes, activated that atrocious night so many years ago while standing before the bodies of his parents. His hated eyes that he refused to acknowledge, refused to bend to.

His hated eyes that had changed last night.

They burned now. They ate at his chakra like hungry little demons that hissed and spat and snarled in the back of his mind. They weren't just eyes—they were curses. The memory of Naruto burned like a physical thing, reminding Sasuke of his failure.

_Itachi_, his mind whispered. _Itachi, Itachi, Itachi_.

Sasuke gripped the handle tighter. He didn't need these eyes to stop Itachi. He had exactly what he needed now, and it was something Itachi had never seen before. The element of surprise was what made exceptional shinobi. And Sasuke would shove the element of surprise in Itachi's face and pull the trigger.

o-O-o

A/N: Well Team Kakashi just managed to completely shock me too. I started this chapter with every intention of having Naruto tell the Third the full truth, but his teammates completely refused. Same with Danzo—he wasn't supposed to reveal his hand for another couple chapters yet.

Many thanks to everyone who offered to help edit WDF; I really appreciate it! Next chapter should be up in a week =]

-SR

_If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.  
_-Charlotte Bronte


	22. Chapter 15: Trapped

Posted: March 21, 2013  
Last Updated: March 21, 2013  
Chapter WC: 9,014  
Story WC: 105,577

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 15  
_Trapped_

* * *

-6:00 PM, June 18, 312 TE-

-The Academy-

I set my mind on the question of what Sai's statement about being "ordered" to become friends with me meant. It was easier than thinking about anything else, least of all my teammates. I'd been walking on eggshells over the past two days and staying in that apartment was slowly driving me crazy. I couldn't even distract myself with missions because Hatake-sensei was still laid up in the hospital! He was out of danger at the very least, the medic-nin had told us. Supposedly he was now just recovering from chakra exhaustion and would be back on his feet in a couple of days. In the meantime though…

I didn't know what to think about my teammates any more. They had stood up for me. For _me_. That wasn't something that had ever happened before and I still didn't understand why they had done so. Uchiha had been acting weird ever since we'd gotten back—not avoiding me or anything, just…weird. Yamanaka had spent half her time back home with her apparently overprotective father. Aburame had been the most normal, acting as though nothing at all had happened. Or maybe I just couldn't tell if he was being weird too because he rarely ever spoke. Or displayed basic human emotions

With an internal groan I pushed all of those thoughts away and turned my focus back onto Sai and _his_ weirdness. I was in my field medicine class again, glad for the return to normalcy and the distraction from the disaster that was the rest of my life. I was paying more attention than I had been previously, knowing just how useful this information could be. But during the lulls in the class when my mind started to wander back to my team, Sai was also a puzzle that could take up most of my mind, thank god.

Chances were that Sai's statement about being "ordered" to become friends with me was just bullshit that he'd come up with either because he was bored or just wanted to mess with me. But it was also possible that it was true, although that left the questions of not just who and why, but why Sai had been so up front with it instead of trying to weasel into my graces like a normal shinobi would. Unless that was part of the trap. My mind was running in circles trying to decide what it all meant and I had yet to come to any sort of logical conclusion.

Sai just continued to smile all the while. He didn't talk much, as least, and when he did he was almost shockingly blunt, which in my opinion was a point in his favor.

When I wasn't staring at Sai and trying to figure him out, it was interesting to witness the subtle power plays that waged war in the class. Yakushi was the instructor, but no one ever called him "sensei" and he didn't seem to expect them to. The Chuunin in the class sneered down at the Genin, who in turn sneered back and considered the Chuunin "inferior" for being in the same class as them. All these sneers and insults were carefully hidden behind the expected deference to rank and skill, and further tempered by a grudging respect that all of my classmates gave to Yakushi who they recognized as teaching them something that could save their lives one day, even if he was a Genin as well.

It all rather reminded me of tomcats hissing at each other and I wondered how the village had managed to survive for as long as it had with such blowhards as its soldiers.

Yakushi _was_ a pretty good teacher, all things considered. The class mostly consisted of basic lectures, assigned reading, and lots of demonstrations. There was no homework or tests or pop quizzes, and that alone easily made it a hundred times better than any of the classes I'd had to take in the Academy.

"So why are you here?" I asked Sai. "You don't seem like the medic type. Or are you here just because of me?"

"Because of you," was the instant reply. I had been joking, but he didn't even pretend to hesitate or think about it. "Brushing up on my knowledge of anatomy is a bonus, however."

I hummed thoughtfully. "The better you know how heal someone, the better you know how to kill them too, right?" I agreed. I'd heard similar sentiments from at least half of my classmates. Those who truly wanted to become medic-nin were more likely to take classes geared toward working in the hospital.

Sai and I didn't really talk for the rest of class. When it ended he followed me out of the Academy, like he usually did. _Unlike_ usual, he continued to follow me down the street. I stopped immediately, not quite keen on entertaining a stalker, and scowled at him.

"What now?" I demanded, then hesitated. Sai wasn't smiling anymore. That startled me in a way I couldn't quite put into words. I felt as though someone had dimmed all the lights around and was suddenly very much aware that we were the only two people standing on a small street after dark.

"Danzo-sama would like your answer now," Sai said formally. He was standing in a parade rest position, hands folded behind his back, and his voice was flat and mechanical, devoid of any emotion.

My tongue flickered across my lips in a vain attempt to wet them. "'Danzo-sama', huh? Guess I can't be too surprised. You did tell me you were 'befriending' me on orders, though I'll point out that you clearly have no fucking clue what a friend is."

Sai dipped his head. "I have little experience in human interaction," he agreed as though that statement itself wasn't utterly horrifying.

I'd heard of shinobi like him before—human weapons who know little other than how to kill—but I hadn't thought they actually existed. They were like bogeymen to shinobi children; dark warning tales about what you could become if you weren't careful. They were supposed to stay in dark closets or under the bed, not start following me around and smiling at me.

I felt tired suddenly. Too tired to be afraid and too tired to be annoyed. Sai had never actually claimed to be anything other than who he was. That was more than I could say for most people I knew, save possibly for Lee. Even my teammates, though more honest than most shinobi, were still trained to play their hand close to their chest.

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" I grumbled while eyeing Sai.

"No," Sai answered blankly. At least his eyes matched his face now, I thought irritably; they'd always been too expressionless, which was a part of what had made his smile so creepy.

"Well then I'll accept his offer."

I'd spent the last few days carefully thinking over that answer. I had well and truly been backed into corner, but I'd known that since the moment I had decided to return to Leaf. And if Shimura wanted to try and use me then the bastard was welcome to try. I'd be using him too, to figure out exactly how to control the Kyuubi and use it to my advantage. What was the use of being a damn Jinchuuriki if I didn't have the power that went along with it?

"Follow me," Sai said.

I didn't hesitate before doing so. I just squared my shoulders and ran behind him as he leapt up the side of the nearest building and took off across the rooftops. If there was one thing I was good at, it was finishing what I started.

Sai led me not to the Hokage Tower like I'd been half expecting, but instead into the poorer western business district. We dropped back to street level and proceed to pretty much got lost amongst the twisting backstreets before Sai finally ducked beneath a low hanging banner and through a door that I wouldn't have been able to even guess was there. A small, ridiculously old and wrinkly woman was sitting on a stool in the corner and I eyed her warily as we passed by, but she didn't so much as glance up at us and Sai paid her no attention either.

Instead, Sai took us into a tiny storeroom. "Is this the part where you kill me and hide by body?" I huffed as I watched him push aside a few crates.

"I have not been ordered to kill you," Sai said.

"You also haven't been ordered to have a sense of humor," I muttered, even though my question had been half serious.

"No, I have not," Sai agreed. I honestly couldn't tell whether or not he was joking there, but I had a sinking feeling that he wasn't. God, what the hell had been done to this kid? He walked like a walking, talking mannequin from a horror movie, only a lot more boring—and probably a whole lot more deadly.

At last I saw what Sai had been uncovering: a dusty trapdoor. It opened without a creak even though it looked as though it hadn't been used in decades and Sai dropped down into the hole. I stared distrustfully down into the darkness and tried my best to ignore the butterflies that had burst into life in the pit of my stomach or the ice that had seeped into my veins.

It took me longer than I would ever admit to pull together the courage to jump through that trapdoor. It was like my nightmare coming to life—trapped underground in a tiny, dark place with a shinobi who may very well want to kill me, and certainly wouldn't have any compunctions about doing so. I had to be a complete moron for going along with this. Shimura really might want to get rid of me despite what he'd said, and I could be walking straight into my own grave.

But if I left, if I ran away, it would be nearly as good as signing my own death warrant. Shimura had been speaking the truth when he'd said he would hunt me down if I didn't consent to training; I had seen that much in the hard lines of his face. I'd already made my decision and at least this way I had a fighting chance. Probably.

The floor was further down than I was expected and I landed with a grunt. I could see lighting up ahead, faintly, and followed it down a long, sloping path that turned so many times that I quickly lost track of which direction was north or even how long I'd been walking. The walls were made entirely of smooth, stone that was carved in a way that could only have been done with a jutsu and the light I'd seen was from glowing seals on the ceiling that were spaced intermittently along the corridor. For once I wished I'd bothered to learn more about the sealing arts.

After god knew how long—and I certainly didn't know how deep underground I was now—the corridor finally ended in a large room made of the same stone as everything else. Though its size didn't at all compare to some of the chambers I'd seen in the underground compound, it was easily as large as the Academy and had a vaulted ceiling that disappeared into darkness above me. Sai was standing in the middle of the room, waiting for me without so much as a twitching a muscle.

"Nice place. Is it yours?" I asked. My voice didn't echo like it should have, but instead faded away as though the walls had swallowed it up. A shiver ran across my skin.

"This compound belongs to ROOT," Sai said, responding literally to my question as he always did.

I stopped in the middle of the chamber and glanced around uneasily. "Where is Shimura?"

"Danzo-sama will join us shortly," Sai replied without looking at me. He had pulled out a scroll and with a flick of his wrist it was spread across the ground. It was some kind of storage scroll, I thought, though it seemed a bit too long. I watched curiously as it activated beneath Sai's splayed fingers and ink faded into view.

Only, it definitely wasn't a storage scroll. The black characters quickly spiraled off the paper, racing across the stone floor while expanding and stretching to form a large seal array. I took several steps back as the seal move beneath my feet—then suddenly they weren't just beneath me; they were crawling up my legs like a mass of kikaichū. Breathing in sharply I tried to jump away, but they rooted me to floor. Ice cold tendrils of panic threaded throughout my abdomen and I looked up at Sai to find him still crouched over the scroll, watching me with a completely impassive, expressionless face. I snarled animalistically at him, but then the stone below my feet began to waver before disappearing entirely. With a strangled shout I dropped through the floor and into darkness.

I landed only a second later. For a heartbeat there was nothing but the sound of my harsh breathing. I braced myself for an attack or _something_, but the darkness was like a thick, impenetrable shroud around me. I started to lift one hand to check whether or not I could see it, only to hit something cold and hard. It was a wall, I quickly realized as I pressed my palms against it. It was only a few inches away from my face, so I took a step back—and my back hit another wall. _No_… My chest constricted painfully. My hands hesitantly felt out to my sides. In that moment I wanted with every fiber of my being, more than anything I'd ever wanted before, for my hands to keep going into the darkness, to prove that the room was larger than I thought, that there was a way out. I would gladly swear allegiance to every kami and spirit, I would bow before all the shinobi and civilians who had ever been an ass to me, hell I'd even profess my undying hatred of ramen. If only my fingers found nothing but air—

I think my heart stopped beating for a moment when both hands met unyielding stone.

"No…"

I couldn't breathe. The darkness was choking me, pressing me down to my knees. My hands moved frantically, searching the walls for something—anything. They were boxing me in so tightly that I couldn't even turn without brushing against the stone. I reached up but there was a ceiling in the space I'd dropped through, and even that was only a couple inches above my head.

"No, no, no, no," I repeated over and over like a mantra while breathing in short, rapid gasps. I lashed out against the walls but the stone didn't so much as tremble at my blows. "_NO_!" I roared as I kicked the wall in front of me with every ounce of my strength.

God, I was so stupid. I'd walked straight into this trap like some blind, trusting fool. I should have known better—I _did_ know better. I knew that people couldn't be trusted, that they only ever looked out for themselves. But I'd followed that emotionless fucker who called himself Sai anyway. Why the bloody fucking hell had I followed him? Shimura had said directly to my face that he would lock me up! No one even knew where I was now, and there was no way in hell that they'd look for me in Leaf—they would just assume I'd fled the village once my team told them the truth about our last mission. I was going to be imprisoned here beneath the surface of Leaf forever.

I thrashed against the confines of my cell and the fact that I only received bruises and probably a handful of broken knuckles in return did nothing to stop me. I roared each time I slammed into the stone, pain and rage and terror fueling me into a sort of frenzy that I'd never experienced before. I'd heard the phrase "seeing red" before, but this was the first time I'd actually felt it. It was like a heat that bloomed in my chest and raced through my veins until it clouded every cell of my body and set my nerve endings on fire. I could feel the fury explode in my head with a bestial roar—but no, that sound was coming from my mouth and echoing between the walls around me. It made the entire cell reverberate and the red in my vision expanded out around me, pushing and pushing until the tiny chamber was filled with so much pressure that I could feel my ears pop and warm blood trickling down the sides of my neck—

The stone around me exploded. I couldn't hear, feel, or see anything beyond the fragments that whirled around me in a maelstrom. My feet were moving and my arms were pumping, but my vision was blurred and distorted like I was looking through clouded water so I couldn't see where I was. _Enemy, kill!_ my mind bellowed. _KILL!_

I could smell blood and ink and dust. My hands were burning as they wrapped around his throat. His? Who…? The rage consumed me again. Enemy. I was killing the enemy. I was—

I crashed against a wall, then suddenly was racing across a room. My vision was shifting in spurts and flashes of images, as though I was watching a flip book instead reality. There was a giant white and black wolf before me—and then it was gone, replaced with billows of smoke. I was running on all fours, I realized abruptly. And I was roaring and snarling, only I wasn't moving my mouth. I wasn't actually running either; my body was, without any input from my mind. As soon as this thought surfaced, however, its clarity was shattered as it was swallowed up by the rage that engulfed me. My mind broke and fragmented into a thousand shards that knew nothing beyond the desire to kill and escape and—

A hand slammed into my abdomen and with it all of the energy and emotion dissipated like droplets of water on a hot stove. The loss of it was a physical shock, and even more painful than the blow itself. I collapsed on top of the hand, hunched over and gasping for air that wouldn't quite fill my lungs. When the support disappeared I crumpled onto the ground and laid twitching for several minutes.

My first coherent thought was, w_hat__ the _fuck_ was that?_ I had never felt so, so… I couldn't even put it into words. All I knew was that I was trembling all over like a newborn kitten and felt like someone had reached down my throat and yanked out my intestines.

When my vision finally cleared I found myself staring up at Shimura as he stood over me with an impassive face. He took a step back, giving me room to slowly sit up. I hissed at the movement, feeling hot sparks of pain stabbing into my stomach as though someone had branded me. When I looked down I realized that that was close to the truth—there was a new seal there, blazing bright with chakra through a hole in my shirt.

Fuck, not another shirt. I had three left in my closest and not enough time or money to go out and buy more. What was it with shinobi and destroying clothing?

I stared warily up at Shimura as I sat cross-legged on the ground, but he didn't seem like he was about to attack me. Sai was kneeling several paces behind him, completely still despite the fact that he was heavily bleeding from a wound on his chest and throat.

"What was that?" I asked.

"The Kyuubi," Shimura said in a bland tone, like he was merely discussing the weather. "Jinchuuriki often surrender control to their Bijuu when in stressful and threatening situations. This effect can normally be brought out in severe life-threatening conditions, when both the Jinchuuriki and Bijuu are desperate to survive. Because you have no thanatophobia and cannot be pressed into it, I instead stimulated the primary fear that you have developed in its place: claustrophobia."

I silently digested that for a moment. "You locked me up to make the Kyuubi surface?" I asked incredulously.

Shimura nodded. With his walking stick held in front of him with both hands, he really did look more like an old man than a fearsome shinobi. "The first step to your training with be learning how to call upon the beast's chakra without needing your rage and fear to stimulate the response. Then we will work on learning to repress the chakra on your own, without needing a Five Elements Seal." As Shimura finished he pointed the walking stick at the new seal.

"A _what_ seal?" I asked gruffly, attempting to cover my nervousness. Anything that could stop the _Kyuubi's_ chakra had to be bad news.

"It creates an imbalance that disrupts your chakra system," Shimura said dismissively. "I will remove it in a moment; I do not trust the beast to not attempt another takeover quite yet."

"This was…part of your training?" I couldn't quite wrap my mind around it. Some vestiges of my earlier rage were still swirling around me, ready to lash out. But I wasn't in a cell anymore, and that alone cleared my mind faster than an Akimichi could clear an all-you-can-eat buffet.

With sheer willpower I forced myself to calm down and think logically. Shimura was, ultimately, doing exactly what he said he would—helping me learn to control the Kyuubi. For that he seemed like a cold asshole, he was also blunt and direct, both of which were characteristics that I respected. I slowly pulled myself to my feet. The aching was gone now and I felt invigorated despite the debris scattered around us. There was a hole in the middle of the room that looked like a giant exploding tag had gone off in. Belatedly, I realized that it was probably the cell I'd been dropped into.

Shimura was still watching me, and I still couldn't read his expression. His face literally looked like it had been carved from stone. A weathered, abused stone that was way past its prime, but still. I straightened my back and stared him in the eye. When it came down to it, Shimura had knowledge that I wanted and was offering to give it to me. And really, his methods weren't that different from Hatake-sensei's; I should probably be used to having hard-ass teachers by now.

"So," I said, "when do we start?"

Shimura might have smiled, but I doubted he was actually capable of it.

o-O-o

-8:00 PM, June 30, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 10-

It had been a month since I'd started my weekly wind chakra training sessions with Sarutobi Asuma, but it felt like a year. Hatake-sensei was out of the hospital and seemed right as rain. He hadn't once asked us about what had happened after he'd fallen unconscious—or even acknowledged the mission at all for that matter—but his training had lightened up just the slightest bit. That didn't matter much since I was now training weekly with Shimura-sensei and Sai on top of my team training, field medicine class, and Sarutobi-sensei's wind chakra sessions. Thank god for my crazy stamina and ability to function on four hours of sleep a night, because I doubt I would have survived otherwise.

At least I was progressing quickly now. I could create a cut along a leaf that was nearly four centimeters long and while that might not seem like much, it was amazing compared to the progress I'd made on my own during the past six or so months. Unfortunately, four centimeters seemed to pretty much be my limit—no matter how hard I concentrated and tried to 'sharpen' my chakra like Sarutobi-sensei had described, I couldn't cut the leaf any further than that.

"Alright, let's stop for a bit," Sarutobi-sensei said one evening. I grumbled, frustrated, as I took a seat on the ground next to him. "Let's talk about how elemental chakra works for a bit; perhaps if you have a better grasp on what you're trying to do, you'll have more success at visualizing and controlling your chakra."

Sarutobi-sensei leaned forward, resting one arm against his folded legs, and breathed out a long column of cigarette smoke. He lifted his free hand and lazily waved a finger through it, making the smoke twirl and dance around the appendage like it had a life of its own.

"Forget about the mechanics of chakra for a moment," he said. "Forget about the spiritual and physical parts, forget about the control and manipulation. Pure chakra is energy—nothing more, nothing less. We can harness and control this energy, but we can't _change_ it, not really. It can flow from one form to the next, but it is still energy."

"Kitasato's Law of Energy Conservation," I said, vaguely remembering such lessons from my Academy classes.

Sarutobi-sensei nodded. "Exactly. Now tell me, how do jutsu work?"

"We use hand seals to mould our spiritual and physical energies into chakra in specific forms and then expel it through our _tenketsu_ to create a specific effect," I answered. Not a textbook definition, but good enough.

"Right. Now, I'm sure I'll be repeating information that you already know, but have some patience and just listen. There are two methods of manipulating chakra: Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation. Shape Transformation deals with controlling the form, movement, and potency of chakra. This is what hand seals control and is the basis for all non-elemental techniques. What I'm trying to teach you here is Nature Transformation, which deals with changing the physical properties of chakra into an element. Now, remember what I said a moment ago: you can't actually _change_ chakra, just change its form. When you are changing your chakra to be wind-natured, it is still your chakra, your energy. You are merely manipulating it in a different manner.

"All human beings are born with a natural affinity for a certain type of elemental chakra. Most shinobi will never be able to use more than one element with any sort of skill; hand seals only get you so far. Having an affinity toward a type of nature chakra is like the difference between the strength of a civilian's punch and a shinobi's punch—anyone can do it, but it's the effect that varies. This is still just an affinity though. Learning how to manipulate that element can take years of training, and learning to manipulate a second or third element takes even more work."

"So that's why Kakashi-sensei couldn't teach me how to manipulate wind-natured chakra," I mused.

Sarutobi-sensei nodded. "Exactly. He has a lightning affinity, although he has also learned to manipulate water- and earth-natured chakra. He can still use jutsu for the other elements, but if, for example, he and a fire-natured shinobi of the same strength and skill used the same fire jutsu against each other, he'd lose hands-down.

"Tell me, do you know why the Five Great Shinobi Nations are named as they are?" Sarutobi-sensei asked, suddenly switching gears. I blinked in confusion at the apparently unrelated lesson and shrugged. "In the time of roaming shinobi, before the first hidden villages were founded, shinobi with similar elemental affinities tended to band together. This was primarily because affinities are genetic, so clans would usually have a single affinity, but also because shinobi would seek those with the same affinity for training—water-natured shinobi would seek water masters, lightning would seek lightning masters, and so on.

"Hidden Leaf Village was initially formed by two clans—the Senju and the Uchiha. The Senju, with their wood techniques, were very powerful, but the Uchiha far outnumbered them. For this reason Hidden Leaf attracted many more shinobi with affinity for fire than other elements, and we eventually became part of Fire Country. Even today about 80% of the citizens Hidden Leaf Village have an affinity for fire. Most of the rest are earth or water, with only a small smattering of wind and lightning. In fact, to my knowledge there are only about fifty Leaf shinobi who are wind-natured—that's less than 1% of our shinobi forces.

"This knowledge can also help to pinpoint the history of clans. Take your sensei, for example. The Hatake used to be a clan in Lightning Country. Kakashi's grandfather immigrated to Hidden Leaf Village sometime during the years after the First Great Shinobi War. The Sarutobi clan on the other hand originates from the land now known as River Country, near the border of Wind Country."

"Wait, so you mean that the Hokage has a wind affinity too?" I asked abruptly.

"Yes. So does Konohamaru-chan, my nephew."

"You have a have a nephew?"

Sarutobi-sensei rolled his eyes. "Yes, but that's not the point. What I'm saying is that since elemental affinities are genetic, you will often find those affinities grouped together geographically. Make sense?" He waited until I'd nodded before continuing, "Now, knowing this I want you to think about the areas in which people with these affinities have settled. Why do you think fire-natured shinobi chose to live where we are?"

"Lots of trees to burn down?" I joked. It sounded to me that Fire Country would be the worst place for a fire-natured shinobi, since a single jutsu could set off a forest fire. Sarutobi-sensei, however, just nodded.

"The abundance of natural fuel makes their attacks more dangerous here," he said. "In Water Country, their fire jutsu would be dampened by the abundance of moisture in the air, in Earth Country only the fire _they_ produce would be dangerous since there's nothing around to catch fire, and so on. In comparison, wind-natured shinobi are more dangerous in Wind Country, where there are little to no natural formations to block their wind attacks, and where they can use jutsu to kick up and manipulate the sand."

"And Water-natured shinobi are more dangerous in Water Country because of the excess moisture in the air and the water surrounding them," I said pensively, finishing that line of thought. "What about Lightning Country?"

"I admit I know little about the nature of lightning compared to the other elements," Sarutobi-sensei said sheepishly. "Kakashi could tell you more. From what I do know though, the atmosphere is thinner in the higher elevations up north, and conducts electricity better."

"I guess that makes sense. So basically, I'd be stronger in Wind Country?"

"Wind jutsu are more suited to the terrain," Sarutobi-sensei corrected. "With the right skill and tactics, any jutsu can be strong, anywhere. It's all about learning how to use what you know. Now, pick up that leaf again. This time I want to close your eyes and imagine that you're standing in the middle of a sandstorm. The wind is swirling around you, tossing up the sand and throwing it about. The only way you are going to get through is by directing that wind to split the sand before you. Do what I told you before—imagine that you're splitting your chakra into two and rubbing the halves together. Then sharpen those two parts into fine pieces and compress them together. Visualize what you want to happen."

I squeezed my eyes tightly closed while concentrating all of my focus on how I was manipulating my chakra. Feel the energy rising within me, compress it, sharpen it…

The leaf cut a little bit farther. Not by much, but enough. I grinned, and Sarutobi-sensei smiled.

o-O-o

-6:00 AM, July 5, 312 TE-

-Team Kakashi's Apartment-

I was awoken by a sharp cheeping, followed by an annoyed growl—not an uncommon combination. I cracked open one eye. Tokui was sprawled out on my floor, taking up 90% of the space that wasn't being used to store scrolls or empty ramen containers. Perched on top of Tokui's head however was Temari, the messenger bird that Akihito had given me. The small bird was hopping back and forth, trying to accommodate the rolled up piece of paper that had been tied to one of her legs while Tokui growled lowly at her. After a few seconds the giant tiger summon shook his head and then snapped at the bird when she took flight.

For moment I watched sleepily as Temari circled around Tokui's head, just barely dodging away from the tiger's teeth each time he snapped at her. It was a familiar sight, and something I was convinced the two did just because they were bored. My hypothesis was supported by the fact that the bird kept antagonizing Tokui even though she was about the size of one his _eyes_, and that Tokui's 'retaliation' was lazy; he didn't even try to get up, just tried to nip at her whenever she flew by his head.

Finally I grumbled and swung my legs out from under the covers. Temari circled around Tokui one last time before landing on my shoulder. She shuffled her feathers and cocked her head at me, then held one leg out.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered blearily as I undid the thin twine around her leg. I unrolled the small piece of paper, read it, blinked, and then read it again.

The message itself seemed simple enough. It was written in Akihito's tight scrawl, and rambled on about how he'd been taken on a tour of the Lotus Gardens in Keishi by a gardener. What it _actually_ meant was that he had a friend who was some kind of specialist or historian, and that he wanted to take them to the underground compound, to help study it.

I idly scratched my chin and read through the message once more, to make sure I hadn't missed anything. It _had_ been a few months now since Akihito and I had last visited. I was actually surprised he hadn't said something sooner; perhaps he'd been wrapped up in studying the two devices we'd taken from it, or was busy with his lessons. He had mentioned a few times in our correspondence that he was busy learning to take over his father's accounts and lands now that he was only a few months away from coming of age.

Taking out a fresh piece of paper, I scratched out a quick, similarly coded reply agreeing to meet up at a time of his choosing. I rolled it up, tied it back around Temari's leg with the same piece of twine, then watched as she took off through my cracked window. With a yawn, I finally got up and tried to figure out how to get to my closet without tripping over Tokui today.

By the time I was finished getting ready, my team had already gathered in the living room. Yamanaka pinned me with a disgruntled look until I'd joined them on the couch, which I ignored with the ease of practice. She then took the VHS tape that was lying on top of our (Uchiha's) VCR and popped it in.

This had become a daily ritual of ours, perpetrated by Hatake-sensei. Every night he would leave a new tape—we had yet to catch him doing it, even though Yamanaka and I had stayed up all night trying to several times—and every morning we would have to gather around like this to watch. The tapes were almost the same every time: it was poor quality security footage from some small office with 4-8 people sitting around, waiting. The footage itself was about as boring as watching paint dry, but we all leaned forward and watched meticulously, as though we would find the meaning of life scratched into the grainy film.

"I call the woman," Yamanaka said immediately.

We all grunted in agreement. "I shall take the balding man," Aburame declared a moment later.

"I'll do the boy," Uchiha said.

I studied the two remaining people in the room—a young man with blue hair and a rather fat elderly man with a cane and a double chin—before nodding to myself. "I'll go with the old man then."

We replayed the video footage once more, still studying it closely, before deciding we were ready. Almost as one we all brought our hands up in the hand seals of _henge_, and then transformed into the person we had chosen. It was a deceptively simple assignment to practice turning into a random stranger. The problem was that we had to get everything from their appearance down to the person's specific mannerisms from a two minute long video that had them doing nothing all. And somehow, Hatake-sensei _always_ caught it when we missed something, no matter how minute the detail was.

That being said, it was damn good infiltration training. I had no doubt that each and every member of Team Kakashi could change into anyone they passed on the street at a second's notice and trick even that person's family into thinking they were the real deal.

The four of us made our way to training ground 7 while staying under the _henge_. We hung around for an hour like that, knowing better than to break character before Hatake-sensei arrived—the first time we'd done that, he'd kicked our asses six ways to Sunday, lectured us on the dangers of infiltration for a half an hour, and then put us through a conditioning course that would have made _Lee_ cry. Well, okay, Lee probably would have loved it, but that alone spoke of how cringe-worthy it was. Hatake-sensei's teaching philosophy was pretty clearly "Beat it into their heads, run them until they collapse, and then beat it in again." Sometimes I wondered if he'd have broken a lesser team—and then I remembered that he had failed all his other teams, and knew that it was probably true.

Once Hatake-sensei _finally_ arrived, he told each of us which member of our own team we'd be imitating today, waited until we'd adjusted our _henge_ to match, and then started our morning conditioning. For Uchiha, Yamanaka, and Aburame that meant a series of strenuous exercises followed by a five mile run around the training grounds. For me, it meant whatever crazy version of a chakra exercise that Hatake-sensei would think up today.

"Hmm," Hatake-sensei mused as he stood over me. In the distance behind him I could see my teammates going through a _kata_ while a clone of Hatake-sensei's lounged nearby with his nose in a book. "I suppose we could start trying to see if you can use chakra to supplement your physical capabilities, though I expect you'll do more damage than good."

In Hatake-sensei-speak that meant 'I'm only suggesting this because you can regenerate as it would probably cripple anyone else.' I shrugged in response. "Sure, whatever."

"Not 'whatever'," Hatake-sensei said sharply. "You don't seem to realize how serious this is."

I glowered up at him. I knew perfectly well how _serious_ this was. I was stuck with the strength and speed of an Academy student or a weak Genin, and apparently all the physical training and conditioning I'd done in the past half a year was all but worthless. And worse, I didn't even know _why_ I wasn't getting stronger.

"You still have no idea why I'm weak like this?" I asked.

"Well, here's my theory, though note that it _is_ still just a theory," Hatake-sensei said. "When you get, say, a cut, your skin heals over exactly as it was before, right? No scar, no red line, just unblemished skin."

"Yeah?"

"From the sound of it, that means that your cells have some kind of a base blueprint that is their 'set' state. Whenever anything changes your cells, such as when you're injured, your regeneration resets them to this state. If this is true, then it means that not only wounds, but anything changing your cells triggers this reset, even muscle training."

That…actually made a bit of sense. But it didn't explain everything. "Then how come I can grow taller and stuff? I mean, wouldn't that stop me from aging?" I pointed out.

Hatake-sensei shrugged. "Just a theory," he pointed out. "But I'd guess that it's only external changes that trigger the regeneration, not natural ones."

"Alright, I guess that's as good of an explanation as we'll get for now. So what about this whole chakra-muscles-strength thing?" I asked.

"It's called chakra enhancement," the Jounin answered. "It requires precise chakra control and pinpoint timing. Most shinobi learn a basic form of this enhancement as Genin or Chuunin so that they can jump higher, dodge attacks, hit harder, etc. The more advanced their control is, the stronger and faster they can be for short bursts of time. Lee, for example, uses chakra enhancement along with weight training to augment his Taijutsu skills."

That made mean frown. "Lee? But I thought Lee couldn't use chakra—he has that chakra disability thing."

"No, he has deformed _tenketsu_, which results in an inability to mould chakra outside of his body. Within his body is another story entirely. Frankly, without chakra enhancement he probably wouldn't be able to be a shinobi. But never mind that now. Here is a scroll on the theory behind chakra enhancement. I want you to read it while water walking for the rest of the morning. Have fun!"

I grumbled as I walked over to the small river that cut through the area. It was easy as far as training went, but it was still _reading_. Hatake-sensei was just being lazy anyway—if he wanted to, he could personally explain it to me instead of tossing me a scroll and brushing me off. If he'd been teaching just me instead our whole team, he probably would have.

Three hours of ridiculously boring theory later we finally made our way to the Mission Center. To my surprise both the Hokage and Umino-sensei were there behind the main desk and beckoned us over when we arrived.

"Ah, Team Kakashi," the Hokage greeted us. "Congratulations on completing three months of D-ranks and two C-ranks. I believe that today you are ready for another, slightly more delicate C-rank." He smiled as he held out a sealed scroll to Hatake-sensei. "Here are the mission parameters. It is a delivery mission to Wind Country that should take you no more than two weeks."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Hatake-sensei said formally as he accepted the scroll. He ushered us out of the room while glancing over its contents. "Hmm, I'll give you the rest of the day off. Be packed and ready by the West Gate tomorrow morning at the usual time."

While my teammates slumped in relief at the thought of an afternoon off, I couldn't keep the grin off my face or the bounce out of my step as I walked away. Finally, _finally_, we had another good C-rank! A C-rank, which was worth at least three times as much as much as a D-rank! As soon as we got back, I was going to buy myself a new set of kunai and big steak dinner.

I stepped back into the apartment I shared with my team and released the _henge_ that made me look like Aburame with a small flare of chakra. I wasted no time in finding Tokui, who was still sleeping in my room.

"Hey, hey," I greeted. "You said we needed to train together more to get used to working together, right? Well I have the afternoon off and I'm itching to do something interesting."

A rumbling laugh echoed from the giant tiger. He stood and stretched languidly, then nodded. "That is acceptable."

We made our way through Hidden Leaf Village to one of the perimeter training grounds—number thirty something or other—that were fenced off from the general population. Once we were safe from prying eyes Tokui released his invisibility technique and then began to slowly circle me.

"We shall hunt," he decided at last. "I can sense several chakra-enhanced animals in the area, possibly boars. It will be a good test to see how well we can work together currently."

Chakra-enhanced animals were both similar and dissimilar to summons. They weren't intelligent like summons; they couldn't talk, reason, use techniques, or anything like that. But because they lived in chakra-rich areas they, much like the thick trees around us, developed differently than regular animals. They were larger, smarter, sturdier, stronger—just generally more dangerous. I remembered Umino-sensei once explaining that chakra was the basis for all life. Anything imbued with chakra, be it plants or animals, was stronger than its non-chakra-enhanced counterpart. The trees in and around Hidden Leaf Village were a perfect example of this; they had been grown by the First Hokage with his own chakra and were known to be the largest and sturdiest trees in all the Elemental Countries.

I nodded to Tokui. "That sounds fine to me," I said. I'd never had a chance to hunt a chakra-enhanced animal before, so it should be a challenge.

We set off through the expanse of forest land with Tokui leading the way. I soon found that I had to run at full speed while using chakra to push off the ground with each step just to keep up with Tokui's loping strides.

"Shit," I gasped aloud when Tokui began to speed up, leaving me in his dust. I had always thought I was relatively fast for a Genin, especially with my endurance, but even without using chakra Tokui was _far_ faster than me, thanks in no small part to his size—he was more than twice as long as I was tall, after all.

Once Tokui got more than five hundred feet ahead of me, he slowed down until I caught up. A thoughtful rumble was emitted from his throat for a few seconds before he swung around to face me.

"You are not yet fast enough to keep up with me," he stated.

My eyes narrowed. "Hey, just because _you_ can run like a rabbit on crack—"

"You are not yet fast enough," Tokui interrupted, "so you will climb on my back and I will carry you."

I'm sure I wouldn't have looked more surprised if he rose up on his hind legs right then and there and started to dance do the Can-Can. "But, isn't that like, disrespectful or something?" I spluttered as I cast around for some kind of reason why the 'honorable and prideful' Tokui would offer such a thing.

Tokui just raised one of his bushy eyebrows in response. "Why would it be? Were you never given a piggyback ride as a child? Has your sensei ever taken you along when he uses his _shunshin_ technique to get somewhere?"

"Yeah, but that's…" I waved one of my hands, unable to articulate what I meant. Tokui just shrugged and lowered himself to the ground.

"Climb onto my back and use chakra to stick," he commanded. "We do not have all day, unfortunately, so I will be moving quickly."

'Quickly', as compared to how fast he'd been running a minute ago? I shook my head in mute disbelief, but did as Tokui instructed and clambered onto the tiger's back. As he stood and I placed my hands on his shoulders while channeling chakra to stick in place, I was reminded once again just how much bigger than me he was—I would literally have to jump off his back to get to the ground.

Once he was sure I was settled, Tokui took off at a truly dizzying and probably chakra-enhanced speed. The trees literally whizzed by us in a blur of indistinguishable colors. I couldn't even begin to guess how Tokui could see where he was going and felt my stomach lurch several times when he suddenly dodged around the terrain.

A few minutes later Tokui slowed to a more manageable pace. "We'll be upon one in fifteen seconds," the tiger summon murmured. "Get ready to jump."

I nodded even though he couldn't see me. Some of Hatake-sensei's insane chakra exercises came in use here, as I was able to channel chakra through the _tenketsu_ in my legs to keep a good grip on Tokui's sides. Simultaneously I stopped channeling chakra to my hands so that I would be ready to push off at a moment's notice.

I felt Tokui tense beneath me before I actually saw the boar. It took that as the signal and pushed off his back, flipping through the air before skidding across the ground. Tokui actually leaped _over_ the boar, and twisted around in midair with surprising agility so that he was still facing it when he landed.

The boar was huge, but still barely a third the size of Tokui. The tiger probably could have just lunged at the boar and killed it in seconds, but this was training, not just hunting, so instead he danced around the snorting beast while I lunged forward with a kunai.

Snarling wildly, the boar dodged faster than I expected and I wound up having to duck and tumble out of the way when it shook its head and nearly speared me with one of its nasty looking tusks that were as thick as my forearm. On its other side Tokui growled and swatted at it with one paw, sending the boar stumbling to the side. Its eyes were rolling wildly with fear now.

I reversed my hold on my kunai so that the tip was facing down toward my elbow and then created two _bunshin_ beside me for distraction. The boar lunged forward through one of the bunshin, squealed again, then turned and focused on the bigger threat: Tokui. I supposed I seemed like an annoying gnat in comparison.

My lips formed a feral grin. I could deal with being underestimated. I could _thrive_ on being underestimated.

The boar reared back and then charged at Tokui, who easily leapt out of the way despite his bulk. They danced around each other for a moment, though it was painfully obvious that Tokui was playing with it like a cat would with a mouse. He looked livelier than I'd ever seen him, and a wild grin to match my own was stretched across his face. A moment later he pulled back suddenly, then opened his maw as wide as it would go. I thought he was about to take a bite out of the boar, right until I saw the flicker of flame that began to glow at the edge of his throat.

Tokui pushed out a deafening roar and with it came a burst of flame. The fireball was only about half the size of the ones Uchiha could produce, but coming from a tiger it was still damn impressive. My smile widened as I saw my chance carried in those flames.

With an extra burst of speed I jumped forward and up through the flames just as they hit the squealing boar. I felt the heat lick at my skin, but by then it was already fading so I focused all of my energy and attention on the kunai in my hand. In one quick motion I plunged it down through one of the boar's eyes then slammed down on the top of the hilt with my other hand, driving into the beast's brain.

The momentum of both the boar and my attack sent us skidding across the ground. The boar staggered as it tried to regain its footing, but ultimately toppled on its side and then slid to a stop at the base of a tree. I left my kunai were it was, lodged inside its eye socket, and I landed in a crouch a foot away.

The boar didn't move. I waited for a second, muscles tense and ready to jump away if it got back up, but seemed that my aim had been true and killed the boar almost immediately. Tokui silently padded up behind me and sat down on his haunches.

"A clean kill," he said approvingly.

"I'm kind of surprised the kunai was long enough," I admitted.

I approached the boar just long enough to pull my kunai from the corpse. I was in the middle of wiping it off on the boar's fur when Tokui suddenly snarled and whipped around, so I reacted as well and in flash had fallen back into a basic taijutsu stance with the kunai held out before me.

"That was quite impressive," a familiar voice said from above us.

My eyes widened and my stance faltered as Yakushi Kabuto dropped down from the trees. He landed a ways away from Tokui and eyed the still snarling tiger warily.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, dumbfounded.

Yakushi shrugged. "I was training nearby and heard a fight, so I came to investigate. I have to admit that this is not what I was expecting," he said.

I slowly I dropped my arm and holstered the kunai. Tokui drew back toward me, still tense but no longer outright hostile. He stalked back and forth near the boar's body and his gaze never left Yakushi.

"Well… That's…" I'd never been the most articulate person, but words completely failed me now. Yakushi was still staring at Tokui, who was glaring back.

I floundered around for a moment longer, trying to figure out how I was going to explain this one and how to rebuff any questions about how I'd gotten a tiger contract. I was trying to keep a _low-profile_, but all I seemed to be doing these days was attracting attention everywhere I went.

o-O-o

_Thanatophobia_ – the fear of being dead or dying.

A/N: Naruto just keeps getting the abuse heaped onto him, doesn't he? I promise I'll stop killing him—at least for a little while.

Danzo is actually my most and least favorite antagonist (note: antagonist, not character). Sure, he's a sick, twisted fucker. But he's a sick, twister fucker who managed to raise an elite army under the Hokage's nose, which pretty much makes him a BAMF. But then... ROOT failed. At pretty much anything we saw them do. All of the supposedly "extremely powerful and manipulating" things that Danzo does are done off screen. And then Danzo, a villain who was supposed to be a brilliant tactician and shinobi wound up being an egomaniac with a god complex who couldn't plan his way out of a paper bag. So in this story I'm going to be portraying him as a villain worthy of what he was built up to be, rather than what he became.

Also, as mentioned in this chapter the Naruto world has VHS tapes, not DVDs. This detail is canon. VHS tapes are specifically shown several times in Naruto, such as during the Chuunin Exams. This also plays along with the concept of the Naruto world having relatively advanced technology, but almost no digital technology.

Thanks to LBric for agreeing to help edit this story!

-SR

_You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."_

-Eleanor Roosevelt


	23. Chapter 16: Sand

Posted: March 31, 2013  
Last Updated: May 14, 2013  
Chapter WC: 9,806  
Story WC: 115,383

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 16  
_Sand_

* * *

-2:00 PM, July 5, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 35-

To my surprise, Yakushi handled the revelation of Tokui's existence much better than I probably would have if I'd been in his shoes. Specifically, he titled his head to the side for a moment and then shrugged. And that was that.

"So are you a companion or a summon?" Yakushi asked Tokui.

"Neither. Both," Tokui growled.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. "It's complicated," I added. "Tokui, this is Yakushi-san. Yakushi-san, Tokui."

Yakushi inclined his head toward the tiger and after a pause Tokui did the same. "Training, I assume?" he said.

When I merely shrugged, he smiled. He looked friendly and relaxed, but there was something in the way he stood that reminded me of the Jounin or high level Chuunin I'd met. I wondered how much combat he'd seen, even though he was a medic-nin. Maybe he'd seen a lot of grisly wounds and gruesome deaths; that would probably affect anyone.

A sudden thought crossed my mind and gave me pause. Tokui and I were 'hunting' because it was the best way to learn to fight together—by fighting against a common enemy. I could probably ask one of my teammates to train with us, but they were god only knows where right now and getting time off like today was a rare occurrence. I tilted my head to the side and considered Yakushi for a moment longer. He was an experienced Genin and a medic, which meant that he could heal himself if Tokui or I managed to wound him.

"Hey," I said, "We need a sparring partner. You interested?"

"Against both of you?"

I gave him a toothy smile. "What, not up for a challenge?"

Yakushi's return grin was surprisingly sharp. I didn't even see the shuriken he threw, just felt it bite into my cheek as it sliced past. Yakushi's form blurred and then suddenly he was behind me, removing the shuriken from a tree. "Challenge?" he mocked as he slipped the still bloodied blade back into his pouch. "What challenge?"

Heh, maybe the pansy medic wasn't so bad after all.

o-O-o

-5:00 PM, July 9, 312 TE-

-Wind Country, Near Hidden Sand Village-

Wind Country pretty much lived up to its name, I thought as I trudged through the thick, sifting sand. My teammates and I were all bundled in thick cloaks to keep the sand out of our faces, but a vicious wind seemed determined to throw sand at us and rip our only protection off at the same time. I almost began to wonder if it was being controlled by chakra somehow and if a sadistic shinobi was out there somewhere getting his rocks off by torturing us. It would hardly be surprising.

Naturally, Hatake-sensei was completely untouched.

I assumed he was using the chakra cloak technique that he used to keep rain off him. He _still_ hadn't told us how to do that and when I tried to replicate it a few weeks ago I just wound up draining my chakra with no real effect. And I stood out in the rain in the middle of the night for two hours trying! For a moment I wished I was normal—then at least I might have gotten a cold and been able to guilt trip Hatake-sensei into teaching me the technique. Of course, that would only work if he had a conscience, which was highly debatable.

It was a good thing Tokui had decided not to go on this mission, I thought. It had been a last minute decision, mainly because he was tired after our training session with Yakushi—apparently it was the first time Tokui had really fought in over a decade. Either way, he probably would have had a hell of a time trying to make it through this sandstorm, and undoubtedly someone would have noticed him sooner or later.

"There are shinobi approaching," Aburame suddenly announced.

Hatake-sensei nodded. "We're close to Hidden Sand Village," he said. "They'll escort us the rest of the way."

He had barely finished speaking when two cloaked figures appeared through the sandstorm. They were standing still, completely ignoring the sand whipping around them, apparently waiting for us. No words were exchanged; they merely turned and headed further into the storm. I hesitated for a moment before following my teammates after them.

The sandstorm seemed to grow thicker the farther we went. Before long I was digging my feet into the sand and gritting my teeth as I struggled to take each step. I couldn't even use my chakra to stick to the ground here since it was just sand. My teammates were struggling just as much—more so in Yamanaka's case, as she was the smallest of all of us. Uchiha looked as though he was taking personal affront to the strength of the storm from what little I could see of his expression. Even Aburame was frowning heavily as he pushed forward. This weather certainly couldn't be good for his bugs.

Abruptly the sandstorm died away. I pulled up short, staring around us in shock. I turned around, and then jumped back when I found a wall of whirling sand only an inch from my nose. "Holy…" I breathed as I looked up at the sand. It was as though there was an invisible barrier holding the sandstorm back. It stretched to both sides for as far as I could see and at least a thousand feet up into the air.

I looked back to find my group moving forward and, with one last glance back, hurried after them. There was nothing but flat ground ahead us. It was solid rock, not sand, I quickly noticed. It stretched on for what looked like miles, but the far distance I thought I could see a tall rock wall. Or was that the sandstorm, on the other side of the invisible barrier?

And then suddenly I realized that it wasn't just flat ground ahead of us—instead there was a massive canyon set in the ground. It was like a gaping wound in the earth, stretching almost larger than the size of Hidden Leaf Village. And indeed, inside of the canyon was what was undoubtedly Hidden Sand Village, one of the five great hidden villages.

"Why don't _we_ have an awesome defense?" I wondered aloud as I looked back at the gigantic sandstorm that circled around the canyon. It would be ridiculously difficult for any attacking force to make it through.

"We prefer having a hidden defense system," Hatake-sensei said. I jumped at the sound of his voice, having not realized that he was right next to me.

I opened my mouth to ask what defenses we had, then stopped when I realized that it wasn't the best question to ask in front of foreign shinobi.

We were led down to a set of stairs that were carved into the stone of the canyon itself. They blended perfectly into their surroundings; I never would have seen them if our guides hadn't specifically pointed them out to us. The stairs wound down the canyon onto the switchback path that slowly led down to the village. Of course, being shinobi we chose to run straight down the side of the canyon. Doing so was more difficult than I expected because gravity kept trying to pull me down headfirst. By the time we landed on the canyon floor my legs were screaming in protest.

I turned and looked up at the buildings that surrounded us as I subtly stretched my legs. They were entirely alien from what I was used to, made out of rock and clay. They were all rounded and bulbous in shape, like thousands of giant rock thumbs sticking out of the ground. Round windows and doors were cut into the sides, with no glass that I could see. It was jarringly different from any town I'd ever seen.

Once we were inside the village proper our escorts disappeared from view, though I wondered if they were still following us from the shadows. Hatake-sensei led us through the streets with apparent ease until we reached a hotel.

"Tomorrow morning we meet with the client and pick up the package to take back to Hidden Leaf," Hatake-sensei said to us. "Until then you are free to explore the village, but I want to you to stay close and be careful. And above all, do _not_ antagonize anyone. We're in another hidden village now, not just a civilian town. Make sure you meet back here before dark."

We all nodded and Hatake-sensei disappeared, off to do whatever it was that he did when he was free. Yamanaka immediately tuned to Uchiha, latched onto his arm, and began to squeal about exploring the village together. I laughed outright at the annoyance on Uchiha's face.

"I shall surrender to the hotel room," Aburame said.

"You mean retire," Uchiha said automatically as he shook Yamanaka off. "I'm going to find something to eat. _Don't_ follow me."

Yamanaka ignored his warning and trailed after him anyway, chatting all the while. As he'd said, Aburame disappeared into the building, leaving me standing alone in the street. I shrugged and turned to meander through the streets, sure that I would be able to find something to do.

I noticed right away that there were a lot fewer shinobi on the streets than in Hidden Leaf. The village itself had a very different atmosphere too; quieter, more muted. I wandered around while chewing on a ration bar until I found what looked like a training ground of some kind. It was made up solely of sand and tall rocks, but it was just open enough, and private enough, to let me relax.

I made it to the middle of the area before I saw that there was a redheaded boy already there. He was sitting in a lotus position on top of a rock outcropping with his eyes closed and his hands resting loosely on his knees. When I stopped a few paces away and cursed under my breath, his eyes slowly open.

For moment we both just stared at each other. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, his dark rimmed eyes narrowed at me. I did a double take, surprised to see that his look was filled with hate, as though I'd just ripped apart his favorite teddy bear in front of him. "You are a foreigner," he said.

"Er, yes?" I eyed him warily.

"Father is getting desperate," he sneered.

I barely had the time to blink in confusion before my vision was obscured with sand that swirled around my torso and then it was squeezing around me and biting into my skin and oh god I could feel my ribs cracking and my heart bursting and—

When the white hot pain finally started to fade I woke up, gasping for breath and tingling all over my body. I tried to speak but only coughed up blood. The redheaded boy was staring at me in shock, and then suddenly the sand was there again and I screamed as my body was crushed—

When I woke up this time I didn't even have the energy to move. I could still feel the pain coursing through my veins like a tangible substance. The red haired boy shrieked like an enraged wild animal and I merely closed my eyes as the sand came again. I didn't stop myself from screaming over and over as the sand tore me to pieces time and time again. The only thought that managed to lodge itself in my mind was that I would be picking sand out of my skin for weeks once this was over—_if_ this hell would ever be over.

I don't know how long it was or how many times I died before the boy finally stopped. The first thing I was aware of was the silence. I carefully let my head turn to the side. The boy was tucked back against the rocks, trembling and staring blankly at me while the sand shifted agitatedly in the air around him like a kicked hive of bees. I blinked slowly, feeling numb. For a long few minutes that felt like an eternity we just stared at each other. Then the boy inched forward. The sand settled down, floating down to the ground.

The boy hovered over me. His eyes were wide, not with shock or fear, but…awe? He reached down as though to touch my face, but stopped, trembling mere centimeters from my skin.

As I started to get the feeling back in my tingling nerves, I cautiously sat up, and as I did so I grimaced at the sticky sound of the drying blood that had pooled around me peeling away. I was feeling a bit faint, not to mention ravenously hungry; probably from losing pretty much all of my blood. The Nine Tail's regeneration would keep me alive and conscious for an eternity without food, but that didn't stop my body from desperately wanting the nourishment.

The boy said nothing. He was watching me intently as though my every move revealed the secrets of the universe.

"So," I said, my voice as rough as sandpaper, "I think we got off on the wrong foot. I am Uzumaki Naruto of Hidden Leaf Village. And you are?"

"Gaara," the boy whispered.

"Right. Well then, Gaara-san…" I abandoned the question of why this boy had attacked me for now in favor of racking my brain for some sort of way to get him to _not_ blab to everyone in hearing distance that I could regenerate. Nothing came to mind.

I stood, and Gaara did as well. He still didn't speak, just continued to watch me with those eyes.

"You control sand?" I asked awkwardly.

Gaara nodded. "It is Mother's sand."

"Oh, so it's a Bloodline Limit?" Why was it that everyone I knew had a bloodline technique except for me? Even Hatake-sensei had a Sharingan.

Gaara tilted his head to the side. "Bloodline Limit?"

"You know, a bloodline technique," I said, gesturing vaguely with my hand. "You said you got the technique from your mother, right?"

The boy looked confused. "Mother…is here…" he said as he laid his hand on his temple. "She…says she doesn't like you."

It was glaringly obvious that Gaara was mentally unstable. Not only had he tried to kill me—and at least a dozen times at that—but now he was saying he was hearing voices? My instincts were screaming to me to get away as fast as possible.

"Uh, my team will be looking for me," I said, hedging away. Abruptly I realized that I was pretty much butt naked, most of my clothes having been torn to shreds by Gaara's sand. Walking around like this would doubtlessly get me arrested. I could use a _henge_ to 'create' clothes, but with my luck a Sand-nin would feel the chakra and assume that I was some kind of illegal infiltrator…

Gaara seemed to realize my plight. Wordlessly he unwrapped the large white scarf that was around his neck and handed it to me. I nodded my thanks. It was better than nothing, certainly, and large enough that I could warp myself in it like an impromptu toga, which I promptly did.

"I should go now," I said, wanting to get away as quickly as possible, before he and his 'mother' decided they wanted to crush me to a pulp again.

The boy nodded his agreement, but when I started to walk away he followed. At first I thought that he was just heading home too, but after several turns it was clear that that was not the case. I chose to ignore him for the time being. We were garnering enough stares as it was—and, I realized, despite being dressed only in a scarf that a lot of them were aimed not at me, but at Gaara. They were looks of fear and outright hostility, only tempered by the looks of incredulity sent my way.

When I reached the hotel we were staying at, Gaara was still behind me. I stopped outside the doors, turned to him and said, "Uh, I have to…go…"

Gaara nodded, but stayed silent. I let out a long breath of air and thanked the heavens when the boy didn't follow me into the hotel. I decided to put him out of my mind for the time being; he didn't seem liable to attack me again or run around telling people that I was immortal. And since he was crazy, chances were that no one would believe him even if he did.

As soon as Hatake-sensei got in that night I dragged him off to a corner of the lobby and in a half-panicked tone began to tell him about my encounter with the insane boy. "Hmm," Hatake-sensei said thoughtfully. "Gaara, you say?"

"You know of him?" I asked, surprised.

Hatake-sensei shrugged. "I'd advise you to be careful around him—he's known for being bloodthirsty and unbalanced. Just relax for now; we'll wait until tomorrow to see how he reacts further."

I nodded slowly. I was dissatisfied with his response, but it wasn't like I could think of anything else to do either.

The next morning I took one step outside before freezing. Gaara was still standing there, exactly where I'd left him over twelve hours ago and looking like he hadn't so much as moved an inch.

"Deal with him. We'll take care of acquiring the package. Meet us near the gates in an hour," Hatake-sensei said. I winced, because even though he was smiling, his tone was just flat enough to let me know that he'd be seriously pissed if I managed to compromise the mission.

"Look, Gaara-san…" I began as my team walked off. The boy gave me an expectant look that might have looked eager on anyone else, nearly making me groan again. I decided to try a different angle. "Why are you still here?"

"I was waiting."

"For…?"

"You."

Well wasn't he quite the chatterbox. I bit my tongue to stop myself from lashing out at him verbally and then tried again, "And _why_ are you waiting for me?"

"I need to know what my purpose is," he said.

I stared blankly at him. That was definitely _not_ what I'd been expecting. Not that I'd had the slightest clue what he'd say, but still, what the _hell_? Gaara's expression hadn't change from that expectant look. This time I did groan as I ran a hand down my face. I had a bad feeling that my day way about to get ten times worse.

"Okay, let's try this again," I said. "Why do you think I'll know what your purpose or whatever is?"

Gaara frowned at that. His eyes were dark now, much like they had been when I'd first met him yesterday. He looked almost haunted. "I kill," he said enthusiastically, as though it was the most important statement of his life. "That's why I exist—I kill. But I can't kill you. What am I supposed to do if I can't kill you? What am I supposed to do if I can't kill?"

I stared incredulously at the boy before, who'd gone from eager to looking more like a lost child than anything else. His words kind of made sense, in a twisted psychopath sort of way. I felt a shiver of foreboding run down my spine. He might not be trying to kill me anymore, but this whole situation was still really, really fucked up. To make everything worse, the streets were starting to fill up with people now. And those people were staring at us—at Gaara with fear, and at me with confusion and suspicion.

"This is so fucked," I grumbled aloud under my breath. I cleared my throat and then said awkwardly, "Look, I don't know what to tell you. I don't even know what _my_ purpose in life, never mind yours. Plus, isn't that something that you're supposed to figure out yourself?"

Gaara frowned fiercely, nearly glowering. I almost took a step back, before squaring my shoulders and scowling in reply. "You will tell me what my purpose is," Gaara said, stating it like a fact—or like an order. He definitely sounded like he was used to getting his way, and considering how effectively he could command his sand I wasn't surprised.

"I don't _know_ what your purpose is," I snapped.

He shook his head. "You took away my purpose. You will find my new one."

This time I openly gaped at him. "What the hell?!" I spluttered. And damn if I didn't feel a little bit guilty when he put it like that, but it still wasn't _my_ fault. "I already told you—!"

"Gaara?" a nervous voice interjected.

We both turned at the same time to look at the group that had approached us. There were three of them—the speaker, who was a boy a few years my senior who was wearing face paint and some kind of hooded body suit, a blonde girl who was gripping the giant fan strapped to her back while eyeing me warily, and a Sand Jounin. Looking past them, I could also see several more shinobi on top of the buildings around us. The boy shifted uncomfortably while looking between Gaara and me.

"What?" Gaara asked with an emotionless tone.

"Who's your friend?" the Jounin said amicably.

I released a frustrated sigh. This was probably his team, but the shinobi on the rooftops… "My apologies, Jounin-san," I said stiffly. "I am with the visiting Leaf team."

"He's going to show me my purpose," Gaara stated. My left eye twitched violently when all the Sand shinobi turned suspicious looks on me. The situation was deteriorating quickly, and I really _did not_ want to wind up getting detained by a foreign village.

All signs of friendliness had swiftly fled from the Jounin's face. "Show me your papers," he said bluntly.

Sweating bullets, I immediately fished them out of my leg pouch and handed them over. The Jounin looked them over with a keen eye, but I was more worried about Gaara, who had started glaring at him. "Is this your team?" I asked him in an attempt to draw his attention.

Thankfully it seemed to work. He dropped the hostile expression as he turned to me and nodded. "My siblings and Baku," he said.

I blinked at that; again, not what I'd been expecting. I looked at the girl and boy again, but really couldn't see the family resemblance. The Jounin was still looking over my papers and I started to shift nervously, becoming more uneasy the longer he took. The tense silence from everyone else certainly wasn't helping either. At last however, the Jounin nodded and handed the papers back.

"Where is your team?" he questioned.

"They are picking up a package from our client in the business district," I said promptly. "I…" I glanced at Gaara, who stared back evenly. Fuck. Fucking fucking fuck. There was no way I could explain what was going on without it sounding weird as hell, and possibly incriminating. _Fuck._

I must have stood there with my mouth open for several minutes before anyone spoke up. This time it was the girl. "Come on Gaara, we have a mission," she said. She still looked wary, but this time the look was directed toward Gaara. I found that more than just a little odd, considering that he was supposed to be her brother.

"No," he said. He turned to me again. "What is my purpose?"

I ran hand through my hair roughly, aggravated. "I _don't know_ what your purpose is." He just stared back expressionlessly, waiting. I threw my hands up in the air. "Whatever. I'm going to go find my team."

I started to stomp off, only to stop when I realized that Gaara was following me. And his team was following him. And the shinobi on the rooftops were following all of us. Fucking _fuck_. Aggravation growing, I spun around and pointed at Gaara.

"Go with your team," I growled. Instantly I faltered, shocked, when he turned around and walked over to them. His team stared at me with similarly stunned expressions, and the shinobi on the roofs quietly palmed their weapons. _Fuuuuuck_.

Turning back around, I walked away as quickly as I could without outright sprinting. Scenarios of being dragged away by Sand-nin and being accused of controlling one of their shinobi began to play through my mind. Sand-nin were known for being pretty vicious, right up there with Mist-nin. I would be tortured for days on end and they'd find out that I couldn't die and they'd dissect me and imprison me and—

By the time I reached the village gates, I was pale and panting for breath. I leaned forward with my hands braced on my knees and took in deep lungfuls of air. I couldn't see any shinobi following me, but I had no doubt that they were there. There was no way in hell that they'd just let me walk off, not after all that. My team all immediately noticed my shaky demeanor, and though none of them said anything I could feel all of them staring. Hatake-sensei certainly wasn't an exception. His gaze flickered around the rooftops for a moment before staring accusingly at me. I grinned weakly while rubbing the back of my head and then casually looked up at the switchback path that would lead us up and out of the canyon instead of at him.

"Right, let's go," Hatake-sensei said.

I released the breath that I hadn't noticed I'd been holding and quickly ran out of the village. We got all the way to the top of the canyon before I abruptly realized that Gaara's scarf was still packed away in my bag—I'd forgotten to give it back to him.

"Well damn…"

o-O-o

-12:00 PM, July 20, 312 TE-

-Just outside Keishi-

Not long after our rather disastrous mission to Sand Hatake-sensei was called away on another high ranked mission, leaving a quick opening for me to meet with Akihito again. This time, however, there was no choice but to take my team with me. They knew, vaguely, who Akihito was and definitely knew why he was requesting us sa bodyguards, but they'd never met him before. And Akihito had never met them.

The closer we got to Keishi, the more anxious I became. I wasn't even sure _why_ I was anxious, which only made me angry in turn, so that by the time the city walls finally came into view I was a surly, jittery, bundle of nerves.

"Would you calm down already?" Yamanaka said with a roll of her eyes. "God, what's up with you?"

My already present grimace deepened further, but I didn't reply. I knew the reason behind my mood, even if I couldn't understand why I was involuntarily reacting the way I was. I never promised anything to anyone, ever. Just as I didn't trust anyone, no one trusted me either. Even my team—especially now—probably trusted me about as much as a psychotic missing-nin with an opium addiction. As such, it was hardly a surprise that no one had ever asked me to make a promise.

Only, Akihito had. He'd asked me not to tell anyone about the underground compound, and with good reason—it was a discovery that was feasibly worth a fuckton of money. I'd said nothing of the time and had tried not to think of it in the months since, but I was honestly shocked. Akihito had trusted _me_, and I'd broken that when I had brought my teammates to the compound.

Logically, it was moronic to be anxious over something like that. My sensei had been wounded and unconscious and we were afraid that we were being pursued by shinobi that could and would kill us without a second thought. I'd had no choice but to take my teammates to the underground complex and I had no doubt that Akihito would understand that and wouldn't hold it against me. I knew all of this, and still I felt anxious. Why the _fuck_ was I feeling anxious?

We didn't have to go into the city, thank god; I don't think I could have handled that many people at that time. Akihito and his usual contingent of guards were waiting just outside the gates. As I stopped before them, my teammates falling in behind me, he stepped forward with a smile.

"It has been a while, Naruto-kun," he hailed. "How have you been?"

I didn't bother trying to smile back, knowing it would only come out as a grimace. Instead I just nodded and said, "Busy. We've had a few foreign missions recently." I gestured behind me. "This is my Genin team—Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino, and Yamanaka Ino."

Akihito greeted each of them, looking politely curious all the while. He'd heard about them through our correspondences of course, even though he had never met them in person. At the same time a woman suddenly stepped out of one of the wagons and Akihito motioned her over. She stood awkwardly next to him, rail thin frame hidden by a billowing, oversized traditional kimono and looking us over with too-wide eyes.

"This is Natsuki-sensei, the scholar I mentioned. She's my new science tutor," Akihito said.

I nodded, carefully filing away her cover as a teacher instead of the researcher she actually was. "Ready to go?" I asked while turning away from the city walls. I still felt agitated and wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. My only saving grace was that I was the only one who could access the compound—Akihito needed me to get inside, even if he hated me. Which he didn't and wouldn't, but that was beside the point.

With a wave, Akihito motioned toward a samurai who then brought forward a horse. "I shall ride today. That way we can talk. Though I will miss our _shogi_ games," he added with a grin.

"Naruto? _Shogi_?" Yamanaka said incredulously.

"He's a fair player," Akihito replied with an odd expression that managed to mix a courteous smile with a furrowed brow.

"Oh, I didn't, er, mean that," Yamanaka quickly backpedaled and I rolled my eyes at the bald-faced lie. "But Naruto-kun isn't normally the…tactical type."

"He's the 'hit it until it stops moving' type," Uchiha added, repeating a phrase I'd used more than once.

"Yeah, yeah, I run around dragging a giant club behind me—we get it," I retorted.

Akihito stifled a laugh. "Alright, I suppose we should begin our journey," he said amicably. While Natsuki returned to the carriage, Akihito mounted the horse and my team surrounded him with me on his left flanks, and then we were off.

Yamanaka had no problem striking up a conversation with Akihito, unsurprisingly; I had a feeling that she could chat up a mute monk if she really wanted to. Aburame was as silent as ever, but Uchiha—he was unusually open. Normally we had trouble getting anything more than grunts out of him even on a good day, but today not only was he talking, he was actively asking questions. And of course Akihito had no problem keeping the conversation going, like the noble he was.

It took a little over two days to reach the area the underground compound was in, and it felt like that time dragged on forever. Both Akihito and my team had to have noticed how abnormally reticent I was, but they never commented on it. Somehow that, more than anything else, actually helped me to relax a bit. When, after setting up camp for the evening, the time finally came to head to the compound my teammates let Akihito, Natsuki, and I go without a word. The samurai looked as though they wanted to protest, as usual, but having four shinobi around convinced them to keep quiet. My nerves had begun to tickle my stomach again, but I squashed the sensation ruthlessly. I hadn't had the chance to talk much to Akihito yet since we'd been in public, but now…

Getting to the statue entrance was much easier now that I'd been there multiple times. Natsuki couldn't see the statue, not that I expected her to be able to. She exclaimed loudly when the seal lit up beneath us and as soon as we were transported into the Cavern she rushed off to examine the writing on the walls. I silently quirked an eyebrow and Akihito chuckled in reply.

"I have told her the basic story of our discovery of this compound and its apparent origins. My hope for this trip is just to find a few artifacts to take back for further study. Oh—" Akihito reached into his yukata and pulled out the thin, flat object we'd found on our initial trip. "I have been meaning to show you this. The screen stopped working only a week after I returned to Keishi so attempted to discover how it worked and later recruited Natsuki's assistance. It uses a fascinating combination of electrical and seal technology, seemingly using seals to covert chakra to electrical energy."

He pressed his forefinger to the back of the object and channeled a minute amount of chakra. A faint blue seal flared into existence for a moment before disappearing. A heartbeat later and the screen turned on.

"Feeding it chakra periodically keeps it 'charged' for a few more weeks. I am hoping to uncover more technology that works this way," Akihito said, smiling eagerly. "I would have liked to have brought a seal master with us today as well, but that will have to wait a few more months."

"Why?" I asked with a furrowed brow.

"I am waiting to reach my majority," Akihito explained. "Until I take control of my father's estate everything I do, even hiring a tutor like Natsuki, is filtered through Sazaki. I can't hire a seal master without him questioning it and likely overriding me."

"And you can't just tell him about the compound? Or… You don't trust him," I realized abruptly.

Akihito's lips thinned. "No, I don't," he agreed. "He'd be likely to sell the information to another noble at the very least, maybe even my uncle. And if that happens we'd be lucky to ever set foot down here again."

"I'm still the only one who can get inside," I pointed out.

"And they could easily attempt to hire your services from the Hokage or even just kidnap you," Akihito countered.

"They could try," I grumbled. I turned my head toward where Natsuki was doing…whatever it was she was doing, but continued to watch Akihito from the corner of my eye. "You say that like you don't think I'd accept if they offered to pay me to take them here."

I had intended for the statement to be shocking, but Akihito didn't so much as blink. Rather, he smiled as though it had been the most innocuous comment in the world. "Of course you wouldn't," he said.

I wanted to shake him and yell, _Of course I would accept! I'd sell you out to the first person to offer me money for it!_ but my mouth felt as though it was made of cotton so instead I just swallowed and looked away again. I felt slightly nauseous though I had no idea why. It was probably thanks to all my agitation over the past few days. My throat constricted as I remembered that I still hadn't told Akihito about my team's trip down here a few weeks ago. Straightening my spine, I opened my mouth and turned to him—

"Can you open the door?" Natsuki asked as she hurried over.

"I—what?" I started.

"Can you open the door?" she repeated excitedly. "There's a seal lock—an advanced late Saichuu Era variant, fascinating!—but can you get it open?"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, sure."

Naturally Natsuki only grew more exuberant as I opened the garage door and led them inside. When we reached the main normal-sized hallway I froze as I suddenly remember the state of corridor and how we'd left it. I tensed as Akihito and Natsuki opened the double doors, ready for the wave of stale, rotting blood.

It never came.

I blinked rapidly, confounded as I slowly followed the two civilians. I took a few strong sniffs but smelled nothing beyond the usual sterilized air; not even a hint of anything foul. My confusion grew as we proceeded through the compound. There were no signs of any fight having taken place here. I stopped completely when we reached the storage room where I had…died. Akihito and Natsuki didn't even notice that I had stopped, drawn deep into some technical conversation, and I was thankful for that as I inched forward and glanced inside.

Nothing. No bloodstains, no gore, no claw marks on the walls… Nothing.

And yet… The door had still been open and one of the wooden crates had its lid half on. Those were clear signs that we'd been here. And _I_ knew we'd been here; I might not remember it, but I had seen the aftermath.

"What's that?" Akihito asked.

I very nearly jumped out of my skin. After managing to contain my reaction with a harsh cough, I said, "Dunno. Metal from the look of it. Maybe the ancients decide to go with funky L-shapes instead of the usual iron bars?"

My heart began to pound as Akihito peered into the crate and nearly jumped out of my chest when he picked up one of the chakra weapons. Part of me expected to recognize the weapon, but I didn't at all. It just looked bizarre to me. How had Uchiha managed to kill me with _that_? Maybe he'd been lying, maybe… My mouth was still cottony and I only felt all the more uncomfortable knowing that these weapons required chakra to use—and that Akihito could channel chakra.

"Interesting," I said, only partially forcing the comment. Perhaps if I could somehow show Akihito that the weapons were dangerous… I plucked a second one from the box and glanced over the odd lines engraved into the metal. "Huh, these almost look like seals, don't they?"

Holding the weapon up, I pointed it at the back wall. I took a deep breath as I channeled some chakra into the _tenketsu_ on my hand. I instinctively tightened my hold on the grip and felt a small circular indent beneath the pad of my index finger depress further. Instantly the weapon drew upon a tiny fraction of my chakra and began to build the energy up within it while the lines on the outside glowed blue. A moment later a bright blue streak—chakra, only amplified so greatly that it was not only visible but had _physical_ properties, something nearly impossible for most shinobi to create—fired out of the front and exploded against the wall. It burned away at the metal in fractions of a second and left behind a large, black charred spot that was nearly three feet across.

Akihito instantly dropped the chakra weapon he was holding, letting it clatter to the floor, face pale. "Huh," I said faintly as I blinked away a white flare that was momentarily burned into my vision. I could now see very, very clearly how this deceptive little piece of metal could have blown my head off. I carefully set it back into the crate.

"We need to be more careful," Akihito said shakily. "Let us leave these alone for now."

I agreed immediately. Honestly, I'd be happy if I never saw another chakra weapon again.

"What was that?!" Natsuki exclaimed as she rushed up to us. She took one look as the charred spot on the wall and gasped, hands covering her mouth.

Akihito shook his head. "We must tread carefully," he said again. "We are dealing with forgotten technology and we do not know what is and is not dangerous."

Natsuki immediately began to nod and we left the room, locking it behind us. The rest of the trip was much more subdued. When we returned hours later my team asked no questions and I felt inexplicably grateful.

o-O-o

-11:00 AM, July 27, 312 TE-

-Training Ground 20, Hidden Leaf Village-

"I think it's time we talk about jutsu," Hatake-sensei said cheerfully.

My team and I immediately perked up. For all that he taught us, Hatake-sensei tended to stay far away from the subject of jutsu. While my teammates had family members to learn clan jutsu from—and I only knew the Academy Three and _shunshin_—we were all hungry to learn more. No matter how much we'd pushed in the past though, Hatake-sensei had always said we weren't ready. But now, we were. I felt something like pride bloom in my chest.

"Is that why we're here instead of the usual training ground?" I asked, gesturing to the expanse of rocky cliffs around us. There wasn't so much as a bush in sight; just rock and dust.

"Yep. But first you need to learn some things about jutsu that were not taught in the Academy," Hatake-sensei continued. "As you know, all jutsu are assigned a rank from E to S to describe how powerful or dangerous they are. What you don't know is that _all_ jutsu can be _any and all_ of these ranks. Take the Great Fireball technique: its base is set as a C-rank jutsu, but with minimum chakra it can be used as a flame spark technique and with maximum chakra it can melt stone.

"What you need to need to understand is that merely pumping chakra into a jutsu will not make it stronger, just as withholding chakra from it will not make it weaker. In either case the jutsu is equally likely to fail completely or blow up in your face. Let me repeat that for you: _just changing the amount of chakra fed into the technique will not change its rank_. Changing a jutsu's rank requires control. Lots and lots of control. You need to find the perfect mix of chakra and control, and that often requires changing the jutsu's hand seals or even the basic way you channel chakra into the technique."

Yamanaka slowly raised her hand. "Wouldn't that make it a different jutsu, sensei?"

"Exactly!" Hatake-sensei said cheerfully. "That's exactly the point I'm trying to get across to you. So far you have been trained to think of jutsu as all solidly different techniques, but they're not. Jutsu are more like an extended family—they're all related to each other in some way or another, and sometimes the only difference between them is a single hand seal or a sliver of chakra.

"Today what you'll be doing is learning a basic flare jutsu that is commonly used to light campfires. Once you have done so you will work up to a small fire jutsu—the lesser cousin of the Grand Fireball technique, as it were. Once you've mastered that you will have to create your own fire jutsu that's in the middle of the two; stronger than a flare, but weaker than a fireball. We'll be using this training ground for the next few weeks so that you don't accidentally burn down the village while experimenting. Once you start working on the fireball jutsu I'll also want you four to spread out over the area."

"We're not going to kill each other or anything," I said with a roll of my eyes.

Hatake-sensei raised his visible eyebrow, "I wouldn't put it past you," he said mildly. I knew him well enough by now to detect a hint of a smile in his voice. He clapped his hands together suddenly and said, "Right, let's get started. Here are the hand seals for the flare jutsu."

It was an interesting lesson, I thought later that afternoon as I used _shunshin_ to quickly run back into the village proper. Not to mention that I was nearly giddy at the idea of finally learning more awesome jutsu. I had been surprised that Sasuke hadn't instantly picked the jutsu up since he had his Grand Fireball and all. He hadn't quite gotten it yet—granted, neither had I, but at least I had the excuse of having miserable chakra control—while Yamanaka and Aburame had picked it up right away. But that was neither here nor there. I was sure that within a few days we'd both master it and moved on to the next one.

I stopped on the peak of a tall, circular building and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Today was…Thursday. That meant I had class with Yakushi, followed by a few hours of training with Shimura-sensei. Tomorrow I would be training with Yakushi and Tokui and the day after I'd promised to catch up with Lee. I also had some reading to do for Asuma-sensei, a letter to reply to from Akihito, and Uchiha had made me swear to train with him sometime this weekend.

"Maybe I should have become a samurai instead," I moaned, mourning my missing free time and sleep.

"You would not make a very good samurai."

I jumped and then glared sidelong at Sai as he fell in step with me, annoyed that I still couldn't sense him when he snuck up on me. "And why not?" I questioned.

"Samurai are ruled by a strict code of honor that is at odds with the nature of shinobi," Sai said. "Also, you cannot commit _seppuku_ if you dishonor your master."

"I can never tell whether you've learned to tell jokes yet or not," I complained. "How about this—if you're telling a joke, laugh when you're done saying it, okay?"

Sai stared blankly at me for a moment, then nodded. I was irrationally glad that he'd stopped smiling all the time when we were alone. Even his emotionless face was better than that creepy false smile.

We fell into comfortable silence the rest of the way to the Academy and then quickly settled into the classroom. Class was…interesting now that I knew Yakushi personally and trained with him frequently, but he didn't act any different. Yakushi was always the epitome of professionalism, which made me think he'd could be a lot of fun if he ever actually cut loose.

After class, and a brief nod to Yakushi, Sai and I headed to the now-familiar safe room that was deep beneath one of Leaf Village's seedier business districts. Shimura-sensei was already there, kneeling in the center of the large room. Sai melted into the shadows of one of the corners while I sat down across from the old bastard.

"Meditate," Shimura-sensei ordered without opening his eyes. I did so with a silent huff, letting my muscles relax and my eyelids flutter close.

This was pretty much all Shimura-sensei had taught me so far—to 'control and repress my emotions', as he put it. As boring as it was, it was also the most difficult exercise I'd ever done. I was always moving—always. It was very nearly physically impossible for me to sit still for more than a minute at a time, to the point that during the first few lessons Shimura-sensei had had me spar with Sai first until I was tired enough to meditate—or fall asleep.

Speaking of which, I'd learned that Sai had a jutsu that could make creatures out of ink. _Ink_. He couldn't hold the creations together for very long yet, the possibilities for what he could do with it were endless. I shuddered to think of what would happen if he ever met Hatake-sensei and was introduced to the Jounin's little orange book. _Bleh_.

My breathing slowly fell into a steady rhythm but my hands and feet wouldn't stop itching. I felt the sensation of pins and needles set in, along with a quickly building urge to fidget. My brow furrowed as I strained to stay still. Relax, breathe, relax, breathe... Slowly my limbs began to go numb as I attempted to disconnect my body from my mind. The desire to jump up or even just move my hand was nearly overwhelming, but I knew from experience that if I pushed just a little bit further it would get easier.

Then something changed.

I wasn't sure when or even what changed, but I was completely enveloped in the feeling that _something_ had. My eyes snapped open and then I immediately sucked in a harsh breath of air through my teeth. I was no longer sitting on the stone floor. Instead I was standing—and how the hell had I missed _that _change—in what looked like a swamp. There were tall, thin trees all around and I was up to my ankles in murky water, mud, and algae. Looking up, I noticed that the sky was black—completely pitch black, without a star in sight. The moon was still there, shining through the leaves, but it was full even though I had seen it as a crescent just a half an hour ago. It also looked cracked, like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. I shuddered and tore my gaze away, disturbed beyond words by the sight.

Was this another of Shimura-sensei's genjutsu? It seem like it, and yet… Where was he?

"Shimura-sensei?" I called out.

There was no reply. I realized part of why I felt disturbed was that this swamp was unnaturally still and silent. There were no birds, animals, or insects, no fish or rippling water. There wasn't even a hint of wind either. Everything was as still as the dead.

"Shimura-sensei!" I called again, sure now that this was a genjutsu. My voice echoed through the swamp for longer than it should have and I still didn't receive a reply of any kind.

Growling aloud, I began to slosh through the water. The swamp continued in all directions, but if this was a test then there had to be something, somewhere— _There._ Through the trees I caught a glimpse of stone and swiftly made a beeline toward it. Then stopped. And stared.

"You've got to be kidding me."

The stone was a giant dais, only about a foot tall but circular in shape with what must have been a half mile radius. And on that dais was a hulking nine-tailed fox that was larger than anything I'd ever seen before. It was held in place by a myriad of glowing chains, each of its limbs and tails pinned down and its body pressed flat against the stone. Only its head was free, save for a chain that was wrapped around its neck.

For a moment I couldn't breathe. This was the Kyuubi; there was nothing else it could be. It hadn't seen me yet, but all it would have to do is turn its head and— This was a genjutsu I reminded myself scoldingly. It was a test from Shimura-sensei, and there was only one way to face his tests: head on.

I stepped out from the tree line and climbed up on to the dais. Like a cracking whip the Kyuubi's head snapped around toward me. The dark slit in its glowing red eyes contracted until they were barely a thin lines and its black lips peeled back into a savage snarl, revealing rows of gleaming yellow teeth that were all far larger than I was tall. A low rumble built in its chest and then exploded outward in a violent, unrestrained roar that nearly blew me backward. The Kyuubi leapt forward, snapping its teeth viciously while snarling and roaring like a rabid beast. I nearly pissed myself then, but the chains held strong, refusing to allow the demon to budge no matter how much it strained against them.

"TRASH!" the Kyuubi howled, and its rough voice resounded through the swamp like booming thunder. "I will _KILL_ you! I will rip you to shreds and feast on your entrails! I will snack on your bones and lap at your blood! I will devour you and ensure that there is not a _scrap_ of your existence remaining!"

"Well aren't you a bundle of joy," I snarked back with a hell of a lot more bravado than I actually felt.

Again the Kyuubi roared, loudly enough to make me wince and the ground tremble. "_I WILL KILL YOU!_" it bellowed.

I waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, I've heard that one before. Well I hope my bones get stuck on your teeth then; in the far back of your gums, right in-between your teeth so that you have to pick at them for ages before they finally get free. I hope I make your gums bleed."

The Kyuubi cut off mid-howl to stare at me. The pause lasted only for a moment before its expression twisted into a vicious rage again, though it didn't resume its thrashing. Instead it hunched down as though it was preparing to lunge and sneered at me.

"Come to gloat, human? Come to taunt the beast?" it questioned as its throat continued to rumble like a starving Akimichi's stomach. "You will get nothing from me! As soon as I am free from this prison I will destroy you and everything you hold dear!"

My smirk faltered. Something about its words felt…off. It's a test, I reminded myself again, though I had no idea what was being tested. Perhaps Shimura-sensei was checking to see how I would react to the Kyuubi?

I sat down on the stone and stretched my legs out languidly while keeping my upper torso propped up with my hands. My casual attitude only seemed to enrage the Kyuubi further and it returned to its rabid thrashing and snarling. I watched curiously, fascinated by how realistic this genjutsu felt. Were it not for the lack of wildlife, weather, or stars I might actually think it was real. Even the stone beneath my hands felt smooth and cold, and very solid. At this distance I could also feel a sort of heat radiating off the Kyuubi—its chakra, I assumed—and its movements sent currents of air through the swamp that made the water slosh around.

Eventually the Kyuubi stopped. It hadn't tired itself out—I highly doubted that was possible for something like it—just ran out of emotional steam. It continued to growl down at me, then opened its maw and let out one last bellowing roar that buffered me with a warm, slightly moist wind.

As it trailed off, I wrinkled my nose. "Yeesh, talk about bad breath. Ever heard of mouthwash?"

The Kyuubi spluttered incoherently. "You—!" it snarled again, only to stop suddenly and breathe in deeply. The beast went completely still while glowering down at me. "What do you want, _human_?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that?" I questioned distractedly while I glanced around. Was the test just talking to the Kyuubi? This seemed a lot more ambiguous than I expected.

Its eyes narrowed. "What trickery is this?"

I shrugged. "Hell if I know. Maybe we're supposed to learn to work together or something."

The Kyuubi lunged again and snapped its jaws in the air. "I would rather die than work with you!" it howled.

What? My brow furrowed. That seemed even more off. Wasn't the Kyuubi supposed to be trying to trick me into releasing the seal or something?

Speaking of which… There was a large character burned into the ground just before the Kyuubi. Wait, no, it wasn't burned I realized as I looked closer. It was ash, laid over the stone in perfectly clean lines. The hair on the back of my neck prickled as I stared down at it. Was that the seal? It looked so fragile. Like it could be blown away by the slightest wind. But then, this _was_ just a genjutsu. Shimura-sensei could be trying to make it easier for me to let the demon out.

A rumble came from the Kyuubi again, but this time it didn't sounds quite so angry. "You don't even know what you're doing, do you?" it sneered. "Incompetent, worthless, miserable humans!"

"You know, you really should talk to someone about all these repressed anger issues you seem to have."

That prompted another roar. The Kyuubi attempted to slash out at me with its claws, but the chains barely even let it lift up its paw. "I am imprisoned you imbecilic moron! I have been imprisoned for nearly a century!"

My heart constricted in my chest and my breath hitched. "Oh, I get it now," I said after a long moment. Shaking my head, I pushed myself to my feet and then turned my back on the demon. Shimura-sensei was a lot sneakier than I assumed. He was trying to use my worst fear—being imprisoned—against me again, this time by making me relate to the Kyuubi. This was different though—it was a demon, a being of rage and destruction that would only kill if released.

Regardless, the realization that I was a jailor hit me like a sucker punch to the stomach. I'd already known that I was, of course, but it was one thing to know it and another entirely to stand before a living being and realize that I was the only thing standing between it and its freedom.

"I'm ready to go now," I said softly and the swamp melted away around me.

I opened my eyes. I was back inside the stone room again and Shimura-sensei was sitting across from me with his eyes still closed. "Return to your meditation," he said after a minute of me staring at him.

What? Hadn't I passed his test? "But—"

"Now, Naruto. You are capable of doing so without assistance."

I closed my eyes, but couldn't settle back down. I was filled with a sort of nervous energy that made it even harder to sit still than usual. Why wasn't Shimura-sensei saying anything about the genjutsu? What was the point of ignoring the test he'd give me? There was a cramp in my stomach that made me want to hunch over. Of course it had been a genjutsu, I thought desperately. What else could it have been? I started feeling nauseous but I refused to think about why and instead tried with every ounce of my being to clear my mind and sink back into meditation.

But still the niggling doubt wouldn't go away.

o-O-o

_seppuku_ - a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment.

A/N: Wow, I didn't realize until it was in editing just how much happened in this chapter. The plot is moving along pretty quickly too—there are only a couple of chapters left until the Chuunin Exam now! They will also be some pretty action-packed chapters though ;) Also, I really enjoy writing the Kyuubi. I wrote most of that scene from Kurama's point of view, actually, then rewrote it from Naruto's perspective with the same dialogue/emotion. Hopefully that helped you guys to get a peak of what Kurama is going through and what a struggle his relationship with Naruto is going to be.

I will be working on this story for the April Camp NaNoWriMo. This means two things: 1) Updates during the next month will be more sporadic and placed further apart. 2) After I start editing the 50k I intend to write in April, my update rate will increase quite a bit as push out chapters. So the good with the bad =]

Happy reading!

-SR

_All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.  
_-Galileo Galilei_  
_


	24. Interlude VII: Yamanaka Ino

Posted: April 19, 2013  
Last Updated: April 19, 2013  
Chapter WC: 2,341  
Story WC: 117,724

* * *

Worth Dying For

Interlude VII  
_Yamanaka Ino_

* * *

-8:00 PM, July 24th, 312 TE-

-Hidden Leaf Village, Shinobi Academy-

Seals were like flowers.

Ino _knew_ flowers, almost better than she knew herself. She grew up living and breathing flowers. She could list over two hundred flowers and their scientific names, meanings, and uses off the top of her head. In the Academy she was at the top of her class by miles in flower arranging and even now her mother was teaching her how to extract and use poisons, along with other advanced uses for plants. Ino knew flowers better than she knew most branches of the shinobi arts.

And seals, she decided, were like flowers.

Seals were beautiful and not just because of their graceful, sweeping lines. Ino had realized right away that creating a seal was _exactly_ like creating a bouquet. Each seal could be broken down into pieces called articles that had their unique uses and meanings, all of which changed depending on what other articles they were placed with. They had to be arranged carefully and with purpose, or else the entire seal would fall apart.

And when she created a seal… It was amazing. Amazing and beautiful, like a work of art. It was like finding a piece of her she hadn't known was missing. Ino could stare at seals for hours, tracing their elegant lines with her finger.

Which was actually exactly what she was doing now. Ino jerked, grimacing guiltily as she realized she tuned out the last five minutes of her instructor's lecture in favor of staring at the seal he'd drawn on the chalkboard. When the other shinobi around her stood and began to gather their things, signaling the end of the class, she winced further. She quickly stacked the notes she'd taken and stuffed them into her bag before hurrying out of the classroom.

When Kakashi-sensei had first told her that she would be taking a class on seals, Ino had been annoyed. She'd never paid much attention to the subject in the Academy, and had never even seen a use for exploding tags. Containment seals were fine, but they could easily be bought. Why go through the difficulties of learning such an intricate art when you could just buy one?

One class was all that had been needed to change her mind. Ino smiled at her instructor as she passed him, and received a smile and a nod in reply. He was cute, she thought. _Certainly_ not as cute as Sasuke-kun, of course, and not even as cute as Kakashi-sensei (though he was old). But he was cute, and that had caught her attention in the first place. And then he'd started discussing what seals could do, and everything else had faded away. Seals were amazing and beautiful. They were a language all their own, with as many meanings and uses as the flowers that she'd grown up loving.

Ino stopped outside the Academy and smiled up at the darkened sky. Sometimes she wished she had an easier teacher than Kakashi-sensei, but she had to admit that he knew what he was doing.

A flash of blond hair in the distance caught Ino's attention. She lowered her head and saw that it was Naruto, standing out by the street. She hesitated for a moment, remembering him covered in blood and boiling red chakra, but shook the memory away with force of will. She would never entirely be able to forget the suffocating terror she'd felt that day, but she could ignore it. Naruto, for all that he really was a jackass, was still a teammate that had saved her life more than once. And besides, Sasuke-kun trusted him.

But that didn't matter now. Ino was more interested in the two shinobi that Naruto was chatting with. And chatting casually at that. Ino stared at the three of them, bewildered; she never seen Naruto act casual with _anyone_ before. Surly, sarcastic, determined, even playful if he was in a pranking mood—sure. But casual was not a word she'd ever associated with him.

One of the shinobi was older, in his late teens, and had silver hair and round glasses. The other was Ino's age and sported a passing resemblance to Sasuke-kun—with the added benefit of wearing a short vest that showed off his abs. Why couldn't Sasuke-kun wear something like that? Ino quivered at the thought, but reluctantly pulled her mind back into the present.

Mother always said that curiosity would get the best of her one day. Father just laughed and said that curiosity made for a good shinobi. Ino preferred to side with Father, and did so now as she slipped into the shadows of one of the trees in the Academy's front yard. She stole forward carefully, moving as quickly as she dared until she was close enough to catch a few fragments of conversation.

"—tonight," Naruto was saying.

"We shall continue tomorrow then," the dark haired boy agreed. Ino could only see the back of his head, but he sounded amicable. Why couldn't Sasuke-kun sound like that?

The older shinobi turned slightly. His eyes slid over Ino's location, but thankfully didn't spot her. "We should go now if we want to finish training at any reasonable time," he said.

Naruto scoffed. "Reasonable my ass," he replied. "God I miss the days of seven hours of sleep. Or even five. Or mornings sleeping in. Remember those?"

"No," the Sasuke-kun look-a-like said in that same cheerful tone.

The silver haired shinobi was already walking away. Ino didn't have to see Naruto to know that he was rolling his eyes, but to her surprise he followed after the older teen without a word. The last boy stayed exactly where he was, watching the other two as they disappeared down the street. When he still didn't move, Ino felt her curiosity bubbling up again. Almost before she realized she was moving she found herself approaching him.

"Are you a friend of Naruto's?" Ino asked.

The boy turned his head to glance down at her. He was smiling like she'd thought he was, but up close something about it set Ino's teeth on edge. He looked over her for a moment, then his smile widened and his eyes closed.

"Yes, I am," he said. "And you are his teammate." The boy leaned forward and Ino shivered at the prickly feeling that was practically radiating from him. She was still picking up on that feeling of wrongness about him, though she doubted anyone who wasn't a Yamanaka would notice it. "How nice to meet someone close to him. Are you and he…involved?"

Ino blushed scarlet, both from embarrassment and indignation. Any questions about how he knew who she was fled her mind. "W-what?!"

"Together, committed, an item, in a relationship, having—"

"I know what you mean!" Ino said shrilly, now blushing to the tips of her ears. She stomped one foot and glared at the boy with as much dignity as she could muster. "And of _course_ we're not!" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously suddenly and then she shook her fist at him. "Why, did he say that we were?! I'm going to kill that little—!"

The boy tilted his head to the side, looking entirely unaffected by Ino's outburst. "No, he did not. But your reaction was humorous."

Ino's raised fist slowly dropped as she gaped incredulously at him. "What the _hell_ is your problem?" she spluttered. "And for your information, I love _Sasuke-kun_. No one else could ever take his place."

At that the boy's eyes opened to slits. His irises were black—not just dark brown but a true black—and just by looking at them Ino felt her anger slowly fading away and slipping into discomfort. "Uchiha Sasuke? Is he so special?"

"O-of course," Ino said as she tried in vain to regain her composure. "Sasuke-kun is an amazing shinobi!"

"And Uzumaki Naruto is not?"

"Well sure, Naruto's not bad, but Sasuke-kun was the top shinobi of our year. He's so strong and amazing, and—"

When she realized that her attention was beginning to slip and a silly smile was taking over her face, Ino flushed again and quickly snapped back to the subject at hand—namely how _weird_ this guy was. What kind of friends did Naruto keep anyway? Ino huffed, crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at the boy again.

"Who _are_ you anyway?" she asked.

"I am Sai," he said.

Ino shivered. Never mind weird, this guy was downright _creepy_. Even the way he said his name was off, like it was question. And come to think of, he hadn't dropped that smile the entire time they'd been talking. Hell, his face hadn't so much as _twitched_ beyond closing his eyes again.

"The eyes are windows to the soul. My father says to never trust anyone whose eyes you can't see," Ino said suddenly in a matter-of-fact tone.

Still his expression didn't waver. Sai just tilted his head to side and said, "Oh? Thank you, I will have to keep that in mind." His eyes opened fully then, and again Ino shivered once more and had to look away.

"Whatever," Ino said with her head still turned. "I have somewhere I need to be."

She intended to march off, but faltered when Sai casually began following her. "Why are you in love with Sasuke?" he asked with sincere curiosity in his voice.

Ino scowled and resolutely did _not_ look at him. "It's obvious for anyone who has met him to see!" she snapped.

"I have not met him."

"Y-yeah, well… It's still obvious!" Ino shook her head and walked faster. "Anyway, love is love; it doesn't need a reason."

"How can love not need a reason? All emotions have a basis in experience," Sai said.

Ino stopped and did a double-take. "Have a basis in—?! That's not how love works!" she shouted. The people in the street around them were staring, but it was already dark out so they were few and far between, and neither Ino nor Sai paid them any mind. "Love is, is—unexplainable! Love just _happens_!"

Sai tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes again. "Whatever you say, Horse-Ass."

There was a beat of silence. Ino felt something in her head snap as she turned to face him and imaginary flames, fueled by her fury, surrounded her. "WHAT'D YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

That damnable smile of his never faltered. "I once read that giving someone a nickname brings you closer together."

"So you called me _that_?!" Ino seethed.

"What else would I call you? With your hair, your head is like a horse's ass."

Ino continued to gape at him, spluttering in incoherent rage. Her hands reached out, fingers twitching as she fought against the overwhelming urge to wrap them around his throat and throttle him. Finally she threw her hands up in the air. "Screw you!" she shouted back at him as she stomped off.

"I look forward to speaking with you again, Horse-Ass," Sai said jauntily.

Ino screamed unintelligibly in reply.

He didn't follow her again, thank _god_, but Ino still fumed the rest of the way through the village. It was only when she turned down a small side street that she paused, breathed in deeply, and took a few minutes to regain her composure. Once she was sure that her clothes were smooth and her hair was in place, she slid a smile into place—a real smile, not like that backwards one that freak had been wearing—and walked into a tall, round home that was brightly lit from within.

"Sorry I'm late!" Ino called as she closed the door behind her. There were several girls sitting around a low table and they all greeted her cheerfully. "Oh, I love that dress Ami."

"I know, right?" the brown haired girl beamed. "And I found this headband too—oh, it'd be perfect on you!"

Ino felt herself relaxing as she joined them and slipped into easy conversation. These weekly meetings with her friends were what saved her. No messy boys who stank like BO 80% of the time and no perverted teacher who read porn out in the open. Even Sasuke-kun, as wonderful as he was, drove her up the wall sometimes with his incessant need to keep everything in their apartment in an organized state _all_ the time. Here, with her old classmates, she could finally breathe easy.

As one of the girls handed out some _onigiri_ she had made—delicious, but not as good as the ones Mother made—Ino carefully steered the conversation toward the direction she wanted it to go in.

"Oh he was such a prick," she said as she exuberantly described her run-in with Sai. "But he had the most delicious abs. And sure that shirt was a walking fashion disaster, but those _abs._"

"Mmh, I prefer collar bones personally," another girl said. "Remember that day Sasuke-kun took his shirt off for sparring?" Then she blushed and giggled, and the rest of the girls followed suit.

"But this guy, he really did look like Sasuke?" Ami asked as she leaned forward eagerly.

Ino nodded. "Oh yes, definitely. Now where near as hot, of course, but still date-able. And I think he's a pretty strong shinobi too."

She didn't actually know anything of the sort, but it sent the girls into a frenzy of gossip. She sat back, smiling and nodding along with them as they conspired on how to find Sai, who might know who he was, and where to go looking. They would find him, she knew without question; most people underestimated how determined fangirls could get when chasing after a new target. Father always told her to use whatever resources she had available and Ino had taken the lesson to heart.

Everyone knew Ino was the Gossip Queen, and they all knew she was a kunoichi. But most of them forgot she was also Daddy's little girl.

o-O-o

A/N: So we started with "seals are like flowers" and ended with "Horse-Ass"… I'm not going to pretend that I have an explanation for how that one happened. I will say that making Sai piss people off is a hell of a lot of fun.

Happy reading!

-SR

_Fire and swords are slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a Gossip.  
_-Richard Steele


	25. Chapter 17: Mist

Posted: May 19, 2013  
Last Updated: May 19, 2013  
Chapter WC: 6,050  
Story WC: 123,774

* * *

Worth Dying For

Chapter 17  
_Mist_

* * *

-9:00 AM, August 6, 312 TE-

-Nagi Island-

Sato Tsubasa was a minor lord who ruled over a small territory on Nagi Island, just south of Water Country. He had a large gut—though, shockingly, only one chin—which was wrapped in three tick layers of opulent golden and purple robes. He wasn't a wealthy man, but he had himself surrounded by servants and art while sitting primly in an open audience room at the center of what he called an 'estate.'

He was exactly the sort of man Sasuke detested.

"Someone is terrifying my fishermen," Sato was saying in an imperious tone. He didn't deign to look up at Team Kakashi, choosing instead to read over a scroll as though it contained the secrets of the universe. "My subjects are under the impression that there is a sea monster inhabiting Toyama Bay and refuse to go out on to the water. You will discover which of my illustrious rivals has conjured up this trick and you will do so swiftly."

Sasuke really, really wanted to smash his face in. Naruto must have had a similar thought because Kakashi-sensei suddenly reached out and gripped the back of his neck, making the blond emit a quiet, pained noise.

"Of course Sato-dono," Naruto said instead in a strained voice. "We'll start investigating right away."

Still not looking up, Sato waved a hand and a rail thin young man stepped forward and ushered them out. Team Kakashi silently followed him out of the estate and along a winding path that led down the steep hill that Sato's home was perched upon. The young man wrung his hands as he walked, nervously glancing back at them every few minutes.

"Excuse me?" the Fangirl said, and the young servant jumped half a foot in the air.

"Y-yes, Shinobi-sama?"

Ino smiled brightly at him and Sasuke could literally see some of the man's nervousness melt away. She was, if nothing else, very good at working with people—not to mention the only one on their team capable of doing so. "Sorry to bother you, but I'm curious about something and I was hoping you could help," she said. "Do you happen to know why Sato-dono hired a Leaf-nin team instead of Mist-nin? The Hidden Mist Village is much closer, isn't it?"

The young man bit his lip and his eyes darted up toward Sato's estate. "Sato-sama is unhappy with Hidden Mist Village. We have seen Mist-nin in Nagi more often than usual over the past few years and they often cause property damage," he said softly. "I have heard that Sato-sama submitted a formal complaint, but they did not respond so now he sends all of his missions to Hidden Leaf Village."

"That's horrible!" The Fangirl sounded so sincere that Sasuke would have believed her had he not been living with her for months. "Please don't think that all shinobi are like that; we really aren't. I'm so sorry that you've had such bad experiences in the past."

The tightness in the young man's shoulders started to disappear, but then immediately returned as they reached the town that sat at the base of the tall hill. "Of course, Shinobi-sama," he said and quickly headed back up the path they'd taken.

The Fangirl released an annoyed sigh. "Well, I tried," she grumbled.

Kakashi-sensei smiled as he patted the top Naruto's head. "Ma, what next, illustrious captain?" he asked.

With a roll of his eyes, Naruto swatted his hand away and stepped out of reach. He paused for a moment, frowning thoughtfully. "Let's split up and do a bit of reconnaissance to see what the villagers know about this so-called sea monster. My bet is that it's some damn mercenary-nin using a Genjutsu, but hopefully someone else will let something slip that will lead us in the right direction. We'll meet back here in one hour."

No more words were exchanged between them as they all headed off into the crowd and seamlessly slipped into _henge_ of innocuous villagers. Sasuke chose the guise of a middle-aged traveler with a worn face and a soft smile. He greeted everyone he passed and stopped every now and then to chat with stall owners about their wares. After a three minutes long conversation with a woman about the tomatoes she was selling he managed to turn the conversation to fish, but she immediately started to shake her head. It took him another ten minutes to carefully pry from her the information he was looking for—that many civilians had sighted some kind of giant sea creature in the waters around the northern part of the island. There were many stories of it attacking boats, though the woman didn't seem to actually know anyone who'd been attacked, nor had she seen it herself.

The rest of his hour was entirely fruitless. Most people were barely willing to speak to a stranger, let alone discuss something that obviously frightened them. There were a few gossipmongers who were delighted by the idea of a sea monster, but they seemed to know less than anyone else in the town. Sasuke returned to his team's meeting spot disgruntled and hungry.

It only raised his spirits a little when he found out that his teammates hadn't fared any better. Kakashi-sensei was silently shadowing him like he always did on their missions, offering no advice or assistance. He seemed greatly amused with the whole situation. The Jounin was exactly like he'd been before the botched mission three weeks ago that had ended with him unconscious and bleeding out—but he was the only one who hadn't seemed to change.

As they shared their findings, Sasuke watched Naruto from the corner of his eye. He'd found himself often doing so lately. Naruto seemed somehow both more open and quieter since the mission that had led them to the underground compound. He was constantly busy with training and tended to disappear until well after midnight most days, often with his tiger in tow. More than once while sitting around the kitchen table during breakfast Sasuke had opened his mouth to say…something. But he never knew what exactly to say, so he didn't.

The Fangirl dropped her _henge_ of a teenager with short brown hair and huffed. "That was a lot harder than it should have been. Small towns, especially ones with so much port traffic, are usually a lot gossiper. These people are genuinely scared."

Naruto nodded. "The client mentioned that most of the rumors were centered on the bay. Let's head down there and see if we can find anything ourselves."

It took only a few minutes at top speed to reach Toyama Bay. It was large, considering the size of the island, and in any other country it probably would have sported a thriving harbor attached to a large town or even a city. But this particular bay faced directly at Water Country. Sasuke didn't have to know history to know that any town that had started to be built here would have been swiftly destroyed to prevent it from becoming a threat. There was a reason why there were no major cities along the coast between Fire and Water, and the three major wars—and many more minor skirmishes—that had taken place between them were only the most obvious aspect of it.

"It seems calm to me," Naruto muttered as they stared out from the cover of the thick trees.

Nagi Island was a lot more tropical than most of Fire Country; an environment which had the benefit of trees with larger leaves, and the detriment of being very humid. And far too damp. More than once Sasuke had to resist the urge to pull at his shirt where it was sticking to his back. That he was almost entirely wearing navy blue didn't help either.

At that precise moment a crash resounded from the hillside to their left, followed by the felling of a large section of trees and rising clouds of dirt. Team Kakashi was instantly on guard, but they didn't have the chance to move before a shockwave in the form a massive blast of air hit them. Sasuke used chakra to stay rooted to the ground while covering his face with one arm. As soon as it passed a loud _crack_ echoed through the forest and Team Kakashi scattered as they were forced to dodge another falling tree.

Sasuke had only just leapt back when something struck his shoulder, sending him spinning off balance. He barely managed to pull it the motion into a controlled somersault and landed in a crouch—and then two men crashed to the ground inches away from him. Sasuke blinked and they had separated, one of them crossing the distance between the tree line and the beach in a fraction of a second. For a brief moment everyone stilled—all of them apparently surprised at the appearance of everyone else—and Sasuke used that hesitation to take stock of the situation.

There were five newcomers in total. Two of them were wearing the chillingly familiar white masks of Mist hunter-nin. Of their other three there were two men, both in their mid-twenties and dressed in simple shinobi jumpsuits. The last was a young boy who couldn't have been more than six years old. He looked equal parts determined and terrified, but the fear seemed to win out once he realized that both of the hunter-nin were standing between him and the other two newcomers.

As everyone else started to snap back into motion, Sasuke quickly put events into place. The hunter-nin had their focus primarily on the boy and the other shinobi seemed to be trying to stop them. As the masked shinobi turned to him, the rest of Sasuke's mind screamed for him to notice his own position—only a few feet away from the boy, and barely a yard from the beach of the bay. His team was back near the trees, on the other side of the hunter-nin.

_Shit_.

Sasuke felt like he was moving in slow motion—or else the other shinobi were just too fast. The two men lunged forward, but one hunter-nin threw them back with a large sword that seemed to appear from nowhere. The second was facing him and the boy. He flashed through a sequence of hand signs at a pace so rapid that Sasuke couldn't even catch one of them, then slammed his hands into the ground. A seal array sprung up at the contact. Sasuke was trying to leap to the side, away from the conflict they'd stumbled into, but all of this action was happening in fractions of seconds. He only managed to get two steps before a shadow fell over him.

Heart pounding in his chest and still in mid leap, Sasuke turned his head to the side. There was a huge shape the size of the Hokage Tower rising from the water behind him, blotting out the sun. Only, no, it wasn't _quite_ as gigantic as he'd first thought, just very close, and—

He choked when he realized it was a giant eel. In a flash of motion it whipped toward the shore, heading straight for him. God, he wasn't fast enough. Sasuke had never felt so slow in his life. He cursed his Uchiha genes, which naturally gave him the ability to track and analyze movement much faster than most people. Those same genes now allowed him to see his fate, but not dodge in time to stop it.

It was horrifying, and disgusting. The eel's mouth was as wide as a single story building and easily swallowed him whole. It was squishy and slimy and the smell alone had him gagging. He had just gotten his hand wrapped around a kunai, fully intent on cutting his way free, when a second, smaller body slammed into him and pressed them both against the flesh of the eel's throat—and oh god, oh god he covered in _mucus_.

His only consolation was that the two hunter-nin were swallowed as well.

The eel must have turned because all four of them were jostled about by the monster's whiplash movements. The muscles of its throat—it was _moving_ and _touching_ him!—contracted around them, holding them in place and making it impossible for Sasuke to move his arms let alone use his kunai, never mind the disorientation that came from being tossed around _inside_ of an eel—oh god he was in its _throat_!

Then without any warning it stopped. There was a popping sound and the warm, slick flesh of its throat disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Sasuke fell hard to his knees and then was already moving before his brain could even catch up. He didn't even know what direction he was going in, just _away—_

An elbow slammed into the side of his head. Sasuke skidded across the slick rock he'd been running on and tried to lash out in return, but his attacker was like wind and was already gone. Using chakra to steady himself Sasuke tried to fall back and regain his bearings. Instead a wall of water smashed into him with the force of five sumo wrestlers. He was left dazed and gasping, slumped against some kind of rock wall. He couldn't even resist when a pair of hands grabbed at the front of his shirt, pulled him up, and then slammed him into the wall again. His head was ringing and pounding in turns and his vision was so blurred that he could makes out nothing more than gray and white shapes.

The white quickly consolidated into the shape of a hunter-nin's mask only a few inches from his face. Sasuke feebly tried to pull away, but his muscles had turned to jelly and there was nowhere to go. He attempted a _Kawarimi_ instead, but couldn't concentrate enough to gather even a meager amount of chakra. He was unceremoniously dragged away from what he belatedly realized was some kind of interior sea cave and down a black hallway.

He must have blacked out for a minute because he blinked and suddenly he was lying on his side on top of a dry straw mat. It was poking into the side of his face and making his neck itch. Sasuke blinked again slowly, feeling as though his eyelids were made of lead. His mouth felt thick, dry, and cottony. His head was still throbbing and sharp stabs of pain shot up his limbs at random intervals. Objectively he recognized that he probably had a concussion and a few broken bones.

It took far longer than he would have liked for his mind to fully clear, but once it had it was easy to fall back onto his academy training for situations like this.

_Breath in, breath out. Don't panic. Take stock of your surroundings._

He was in a basic cage with one rough rock wall and three walls made of crisscrossing metal bars. The rock wall was black and porous, and slightly damp. Sasuke's hands and feet were bound with chains. He didn't even have to try to use chakra to know that they had chakra repressing properties. There was a cloth ball gag tied tightly around his head, making his jaw ache and preventing him from so much as moving his mouth. Sasuke lifted his head off the mat by a few inches and felt something flake off. Dried blood, probably. His aching muscles protested the movement, but the painful throbbing was already starting to subside at least a little bit.

There was someone else in the cage with him. Sasuke tensed for a moment, then realized that it was the young boy from the beach. He was awake but similarly bound and gagged. Long green hair was slicked against his face and red eyes stared fixedly at Sasuke with obvious fear.

A bolt of something that felt like lightning shot through Sasuke. He wanted to move, but his body wouldn't respond. He felt his eyes growing heavier. He tried to stop them, feeling something important dancing just at the edge of his consciousness. Red eyes. Something about red eyes… He needed to stay awake, because…

His mind clouded over again, and he sunk back into unconsciousness.

o-O-o

-11:30 AM, August 6, 312 TE-

-Toyama Bay, Nagi Island-

"Motherfucking, cock-sucking sons of bitches!" I snarled as I continued to stomp around in a circle. "Sponge-licking, twinkie-dicked, shit-ridden goat-fuckers! Ass-hopping, taint-li—"

"Would you shut up?!" Yamanaka yelled shrilly. "You're _not_ helping!"

I spun toward her with a vocal growl. "Am I just supposed to sit still?! Those fucktards—!"

"Shut _up_!" she repeated.

I opened my mouth to retort angrily, but Hatake-sensei silenced me with a soft but hard, "Naruto." My mouth clicked shut. I crossed my arms firmly over my chest and stared moodily out at the water while continuing my raging tirade in my head.

A moment later I turned my glare on the man who was standing stoically a few paces away. He returned my gaze with an equally dark stare. The lower half of his face was covered by a rebreather and dark, shoulder-length hair fell over the upper half, effectively covering any expression he may have had. He wore a Mist headband with a long spike attached to the top, pointing upwards. He was a Mist-nin, it seemed, and yet he'd been going up against Mist hunter-nin.

How the hell had we managed to stumble across something like _this_? Not only was the 'sea monster' real, it was actually a Mist-nin's summon. The hunter-nin had apparent been pursuing the little boy that they had been guarding, and both he and the other man were pretty damn agitated that he'd been captured. Even more agitated than failing a mission warranted, I thought. After the giant eel had swallowed Uchiha, the boy, and the hunter-nin, they'd tried to follow it, but the beast moved faster than anything that large had a right to and vanished beneath the water with barely a ripple. At that point the other shinobi had whirled on us with rage in his eyes, only to be held back by this man. They conversed out of earshot for a moment and then the other man had disappeared.

"We have a common goal," this man had said. His voice was low and gruff, and distorted by the rebreather. "We may be able to assist each other."

That was great and all, but it didn't change the fact that my teammate had been _kidnapped_. And now we were just standing around instead of searching the island or doing something—anything. Why was Hatake-sensei humoring these shinobi? They were from the same damn village as the hunter-nin! And the man had refused to answer any questions until his partner returned from wherever the hell he was. I stared hard at the side of Hatake-sensei's head, but even though I knew he could feel it, he didn't so much as glance at me. He had to know something we didn't, something he couldn't say in front of this unknown shinobi. Or wouldn't say. Or… I shook my head vehemently and returned to pacing in a circle. Questioning everything wouldn't help. I just needed to exercise a little patience. Fucking patience…

It felt like an eternity before the shinobi finally returned. He nodded to his partner, who turned back to the rest of us.

"My name is Gōzu," he said. "And this is my brother, Meizu. We are members of the Mist Resistance Force."

Yamanaka twitched. That name must have meant something to her, but it didn't to me.

"Yukimaru-sama is very important to us, as your teammate is to you. We have a way to get both of them back, but it will require your help to do so," he continued.

"You are assuming they will both be kept alive," Hatake-sensei said. My fists clenched involuntarily; he didn't have to be so damn blasé about it.

"Yes," Gōzu said. I couldn't help but blink at his tone. He didn't sound confident or determined, but rather his voice was so flat and firm that it was as though he were stating a fact. "They are liable to assume that you and your teammate were our backup. They will not risk killing him until they have confirmed it one way or another."

Hatake-sensei nodded, accepting the words at face value. "And what do you need from us that the MRF can't do itself?" MRF… He said it like it was a known, accepted acronym.

Gōzu turned his head just a fraction so that he could stare me in the face. "A Jinchuuriki."

The change in the atmosphere was instantaneous. All four of us went unnaturally still and the air grew charged and heavy with ambient chakra. Hatake-sensei glanced over at my teammates because of their reaction—alarmed instead of confused like they should have been—which would be the equivalent of a double take for anyone else.

"How the fuck—" I started to snarl, but Hatake-sensei silenced me again with a faint flick of his hand. I clamped my jaw shut and scowled warily at Gōzu instead.

"There isn't an intelligence officer in the Elemental Nations who doesn't know your face, Uzumaki Naruto. Nor the faces of every other Jinchuuriki," Gōzu said.

I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling exposed and vulnerable. I didn't say anything though, knowing that especially in this kind of situation I should leave it to Hatake-sensei. He, at least, was going out of his way to appear as unconcerned and nonchalant as always, minus his little orange book.

Gōzu continued his explanation unprompted. Meizu hovered over his shoulder silently, his expression pinched. "We are dedicated to Yagura-sama, the Fourth Mizukage and the Sanbi's Jinchuuriki. During most of his term as Mizukage, Yagura-sama was being controlled by another shinobi. Several of our members grew suspicious of this and once we were able to confirm the truth we tried to free him. We were immediately labeled as traitors and in the ensuing battle Yagura-sama was believed to be killed and the Sanbi released from its seal within him. This was not what happened.

"Although Yagura-sama was fatally wounded he did not die and was freed from his manipulator's jutsu. He managed to flee with us out of Water Country before his wounds finally overcame him. His last act was to partially release the Sanbi, encasing himself within it and putting himself in a deep stasis sleep. Doing so should have allowed him to heal quickly, but instead he has remained unconscious for years."

It took a lot of effort not to gape at him and I was sure my teammates were feeling the same. We all knew exactly what events he was talking about—the attempted coup and assassination in Hidden Mist Village four years ago was common knowledge. But all of this still didn't explain how _I _was supposed to help.

"And?" Hatake-sensei said.

"We have theorized that the chakra of another bijuu will be able to jumpstart his awakening process," Gōzu said. I noticed that his answer was about as vague as it could get, with no actual explanation about who had come up with this 'theory'. "If you assist us we will be able to return Yagura-sama to his rightful place as Mizukage and we will forever remember Leaf as our ally. Yagura-sama will also expend every effort to help rescue your teammate."

My eyebrows rose at that. Everyone knew that Leaf and Mist had been at odds since the villages had been founded and I highly doubted that even something like this would change that. Not to mention the politics behind all of this… I felt suddenly uncomfortable; we'd stumbled into something _way_ too big.

"I will speak to my team now, if you don't mind," Hatake-sensei said pleasantly.

Gōzu inclined his head forward slightly. He and his brother strode off into the thick foliage, still in sight but far enough to be well out of earshot. Hatake-sensei watched them with a faint smile until they stopped walking then turned to us. We stepped forward to form a tight circle.

"We should accept," Yamanaka said immediately.

"What, why?!" I balked.

"Reviving the Fourth Mizukage will give the MRF an edge they've never had and the legitimacy the need. This could help launch Mist into a civil war," Yamanaka replied.

"You want to start a civil war?" I said incredulously.

Yamanaka rolled her eyes. "Look at the big picture, Naruto. If Mist is in a civil war they will be forced to devote most of their resources to fighting instead of missions. And since Leaf is pretty much the closest of the Great Hidden Villages, we'll get most of that revenue instead. Plus if the MRF wins we'll have solidified an alliance with Mist and even if it fails it'll be no skin off our backs."

"At the cost of thousands of lives," Aburame said. His tone was as monotonous as ever, but somehow managed to convey a sense of disapproval.

Yamanaka stared at him for a few seconds. "Well, yeah."

"And you do not have a problem with that?" Aburame asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I protested. "Is no one considering the part where this could easily be a trap? Hell, those so-called hunter-nin could be working with them, holding Uchiha hostage to force us to help! They _said_ they've been looking for a Jinchuuriki—this whole mission could have been a set up."

With a furrowed brow and a deep frown, Yamanaka considered my words. I glanced to Hatake-sensei for support, but he was just rocking back on his heels and looking unusually expressionless. Of all the times for him to leave the decision up to us, this was definitely _not_ one of them.

"Do we take the risk and wait for a backup team to rescue Sasuke-kun?" Yamanaka asked worriedly. She bit her lip and glanced between us. "It takes days just to get here and if they—" Her breath hitched. "…If they kill him..."

I clenched my teeth and looked away. Gōzu and Meizu were watching us, possibly even reading our lips, but suddenly I couldn't bring myself to care. My shoulders felt heavy and I wanted to slump down.

"It could still be a bluff," I muttered.

Yamanaka squared her shoulders suddenly, shrugging off her worry in a way I had come to recognize as her changing from fangirl-mode to kunoichi-mode. It was something she did with disturbing ease. "I still say we agree. The potential benefits still far outweigh the risks. Even if this is a setup, Sasuke-kun is still in danger," she said while staring me dead in the eye.

Aburame nodded slowly as she spoke. "I…cannot agree with everything you have said," he murmured, "but I agree that we may need to press on regardless."

"And aren't _you_ going to say anything about all this?" I asked Hatake-sensei while eyeing him warily. "The politics of this… It kind of involves all of Leaf. Hell, Mist could actually be behind all of this, setting us up so that they can claim that Leaf has been aiding their rebels and whatnot—which, technically, is exactly what we'd be doing. This isn't exactly something that _Genin_ should be deciding."

Yamanaka's gaze sharpened as she stared up at our teacher. "He's right. What's going on, sensei?" she said tersely.

Abruptly I narrowed my eyes into slits. I stepped to the side so that Hatake-sensei was between me and the foreign shinobi, so that they couldn't read my lips. "You already knew that the MRF were here didn't you?" I accused. "Were we given this mission intentionally?"

"You're unusually observant today," he said.

"What?!" Yamanaka hissed. "You mean you really—!"

"We knew that the MRF were in the area, and that running into them while here was a possibility," Hatake-sensei interrupted. "Sasuke-kun's abduction was not expected, but Gōzu was correct about hunter-nin policy; he will be safe for the time being. I have faith enough that you will be able to rescue him and complete your mission."

"Reviving the Mizukage, you mean," I said.

Hatake-sensei nodded. "That is the Hokage's order."

"So Leaf heard that the MRF was looking for a Jinchuuriki…" Yamanaka said slowly. "Why weren't we alerted to this when we left? This has to be higher than a C-rank mission."

"This was intended to be a first contact mission at most. Sasuke-kun's abduction changes this. There is a team nearby who are already on their way to lend assistance, but we can't afford to wait for them."

I breathed out a long, frustrated sigh. "Sometimes being shinobi sucks. I really should have become a samurai…" I grumbled.

"Are we in agreement then?" Aburame said suddenly. "We proceed?"

"It's your mission, Naruto," Hatake-sensei said.

I breathed in deeply again. Of course I'd been handed responsibility for something like _this_.

I waved the two foreign shinobi over and waited until they returned before speaking again. "We'll help," I told them, "But only on the condition that you agree to terms of an alliance first."

Both of Gōzu's eyebrows rose high enough that they disappeared beneath his headband, but ultimately he nodded. "Follow me," he said.

I took point as we ran after Gōzu. He led us around the bay, up toward the rocky cliffs that ran along the island's northern shore, and then down the face of the cliff itself. I groaned internally as I jumped after him; I hated running down vertical surfaces. The pull of gravity was a lot more noticeable and I always felt as though I was going to pitch forward and go tumbling head over heels to the ground—or into the ocean, in this case. Without warning, Gōzu disappeared into an opening that blended perfectly into the rock. Catching myself just in time, I flipped into the fissure and landed in a crouch inside a tunnel.

Gōzu and Meizu waited until my entire team was inside, flicked on a bright flashlight as our only lighting, and then proceeded at a brisk walk. The tunnel seemed to be half natural, half man-made. It twisted sharply at random and more than once we had to drop down into dark pits. The walls were made of a black, porous rock that was damp and often slick with water. Gōzu ran his hand along the rock walls periodically and his chakra flared each time he did so, probably deactivating traps and seals.

After dropping into what felt like the bowels of the earth, we finally came to a dead end in the form of a tiny cavern that was filled with water. Lying on a flat rock nearby were four rebreathers like the ones Gōzu and Meizu were wearing.

"Put those on and we will proceed," Gōzu directed.

I picked one up and turned it over several times while warily eyeing the dark water. I'd been handling going underground very well so far, if I did say so myself; I had even managed to keep my breathing even the entire time. Heading into the underground compound probably helped in that respect. But there was also a very, very big difference between a brightly lit, man-made complex and diving into pitch black, freezing cold water deep beneath the earth that led into what was probably a tiny shaft.

Turning the rebreather over one more time, I stared down at the seal that was placed over the mouthpiece. It would recycle the air exhaled into it and expel it to be inhaled again, allowing its wearer to breath underwater almost indefinitely. For me, that was more of a terrifying prospect than an assuring one. I could just picture myself, trapped in the darkness, swimming through a maze of tunnels that I could never escape from for the rest of eternity. The thought was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

"You will have to channel chakra through the tenketsu near your mouth and into the seal to activate it," Gōzu said. He eyed Yamanaka for a moment, then said, "Do you all know how to swim?"

Yamanaka scowled at him. "Of course!" she snapped and then all but jammed the rebreather onto her face. Despite her annoyance, I knew Yamanaka well enough by now to notice that she wasn't nearly as confident as she pretended to be. It made me feel a little bit better to know that I wasn't the only one nervous about this, and I swiftly put my rebreather on as well.

Meizu jumped into the water without further ado. Gōzu, however, was in the middle of tying a long, thin nylon rope around his waist. He gestured me forward and I stood frozen and tense as he tied it around my waist with less than a dozen feet of extra rope between us. He continued to do the same to the rest of my team, tying them intermittently along the lead line.

When his back was turned as he tied Hatake-sensei to the end, I quickly signed to Aburame, _Hidden clone stay here_. He nodded, and abruptly I noticed that he had an odd, pinched expression on his face that I had never seen before. Belatedly I realized that kikaichū and water didn't really mix and that there was a good chance he was just as panicked as I was about going cave diving. I wanted to say something, but by then Gōzu had turned back to us.

After making sure that we were all ready, Gōzu jumped into the water and we followed after. It was a damn lucky thing that I'd learned to swim in the lakes around Hidden Leaf Village, though I'd never expected to use the skill for something like this. The water was just as freezing as I'd expected and of course my clothing offered no insulation. The water surrounded us like a cloak of liquid shadows, impossible to see through. I was tugged along blindly by Gōzu for a few seconds before a pale blue light suddenly erupted from one of the Mist-nin's hands. As I blinked rapidly and let my eyes adjust to the change, I saw that the light was originating from some kind of long tube, about the size of a small scroll. The illumination certainly made swimming after him a hell of a lot easier. I still felt as though the passageway was going to collapse on us and trap us at any moment, but at least now I'd be able to see when it happened.

I couldn't say how long we were underwater because it felt like an eternity to me. We passed through dozens of twisting channels that Gōzu seemed to know by heart, considering how many side-shoots we passed without a second glance. It really was a maze down here. At last we surfaced and dragged ourselves up into another dry tunnel and untied ourselves from the lead line. The rebreathers were temporarily put away and we continued walking.

Or tried walking. I stumbled more than once because I was half numb from the cold water and anything that wasn't numb was tingling manically. My waterlogged clothing wasn't helping either and was sticking in all the wrong places. Yamanaka resembled like a drowned cat with hair plastered all over her face, but Aburame had it the worst, looking absolutely miserable. I don't think I'd ever seen him that emotive in the entire time we'd been a team. Hatake-sensei and Gōzu were passively mocking us by being completely, 100% dry. I assumed it had to do with that one chakra control technique that Hatake-sensei still wouldn't teach us—claiming that our control wasn't good enough yet—as it was similar to how he stayed dry in the rain.

A few minutes of walking later we finally stepped into a large, open cavern that was filled with stalactites, stalagmites, and dotted with pools of water that appeared deceptively shallow. There was more lighting here, though I couldn't quite place its origin. Gōzu's brother was waiting for us there, along with half a dozen other shinobi.

And standing there at the front of the group was Momochi Zabuza.

o-O-o

_-dono_ – an honorific that roughly means "lord" or "master". It does not equate noble status; rather it is a term akin to "milord" or French "monseigneur", and lies in between -san and -sama in level of respect.

A/N: Dear god, this chapter… I think I must have re-written this chapter (and the next one) about four different times. It pretty much refused to be written, and the plot as it stands now is vastly different from how it started. As such, if anyone notices any inconsistencies/logical fallacies that are still remaining, please let me know!

Also, this story is officially one year old! My goal is to finish this story within the next year. It's entirely possible since I'm nearly at the half way mark currently, but…we'll see how that goes xD The second half of this story is going to be a hell of lot more action-packed!

Happy reading!

-SR

_There is no fixed physical reality, no single perception of the world, just numerous ways of interpreting world views as dictated by one's nervous system and the specific environment of our planetary existence.  
_-Deepak Chopra


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